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THE LUSITANIA'S LAST VOYAGE
13)40
THE LUSITANIA'S
LAST VOYAGE
Being a Narrative
of the Torpedoing and Sinking
of the R. M. S. Lusitania
by a German Submarine
off the Irish Coast
May 7, 1915
BY
CHARLES E. LAURIAT, JB.
ONE OF THE SURVIVORS
With Illustrations
BOSTON AND NEW YORK
HOUGHTON MIFFLIN COMPANY
dbc RitetfiDe prc<> Cambridge
1915
COPYRIGHT, 1915, BY CHARLES E. LAURIAT, JR.
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
Published Octobtr K)iy
Copyright in Great Britain, Ireland,
and British Colonies, and in all
countries under the Convention, by
Charles E. Lauriat, Jr.
TO MY FATHER
WHO TAUGHT MB IN BOYHOOD TO SWIM, AND
TO KNOW NO FEAR OF THE SEA
AND
TO MY MOTHER
WHO FOUNDED THE FAITH THAT
HAS BROUGHT ME
THROUGH ALL THINGS
I DEDICATE THIS
BOOK
THE ZONE
Avert Thy gaze, O God, close tight Thine eyes!
Glance down no longer on the ocean foam,
Lest Thou behold such horrors as can turn
Men's burning hearts to ice, and chill their souls.
Keep Thine heart warm and full of charity
That Thou mayst yet be able to forgive,
And pity feel for those who know not when
To pause in deeds of ruthless sacrifice.
Restrain Thy wrath, and keep Thine hand in
check;
Smite not, nor fiercely thrust without the pale
Those who can dare to strew the ocean waste
With fellow creatures, innocent of wrong.
Forget the studied purpose to destroy;
The launching of the missile through the deep;
The shattered hull; the crushed and bleeding forms;
The seething swirl of wreckage, women, men.
( vi)
Remember that they know not what they do
Who strike in deadly fear and ghastly hate;
Remember that somehow, and at some time,
Each crime exacts its human penalty.
Remember that man's conscience and man's mind
Are agents of Thy purpose and Thy plan,
Which work within a deadlier revenge
Than any shrapnel shot or sabre thrust.
Remember that new generations come
Upon whom fall the burden and the curse,
The anguish of old hatreds and past wrongs,
The crushing debt, the struggle and despair.
Restrain, O God, the sweep of this vast hate;
Recall the nations to their sense of shame:
To those in blinding war, to us at peace,
Reveal anew the message of the Christ.
WILLIAM LLOYD GARRISON, JR.
(Reprinted by permission of the
author and of the Boston Trantcript)
i Vii )
THE LUSITANIA'S LAST VOYAGE
PART I
THE LUSITANIA'S
LAST VOYAGE
PART I
6, NEW OXFORD STREET, LONDON, W. C.t
May lid, 1915
OUR voyage from New York had been un-
eventful and in fact it was quite a "Lauriat
Crossing"; fine weather, smooth sea, and
after the first few hours of Sunday (May 2)
there had been no fog up to Friday morning
(May 7), when it came in for a short
time.
The speed of the boat had not been what
I had expected it would be, for after the first
full run of 24 hours, in which we covered 501
miles, the run dropped each day to well below
the 500 mark, and the last 24 hours up to
(3)
THE LUSITANIA'S LAST VOYAGE
Friday noon (May 7) we made only 462 miles.
This was partly accounted for by the fact that
we picked up Greenwich time at Cape Clear
and put the clock ahead 1 hour and 40
minutes.
The reason this small run impressed itself
upon my mind was that I expected that
when we sighted the Irish Coast the "Lucy'*
would show a burst of "top speed" and that
we should go flying up at not less than 25
miles an hour. The run up to Thursday noon
(May 6) had been 484 miles, and so confident
was I that she would put on steam that I
bought the high number in the pool (for
Friday), which was 499. It was the only pool
I went into and I couldn't help it, for the
number sold at £3.0.0 and at that price it
looked like a "bargain."
During the forenoon of Thursday (May 6)
we swung out and uncovered 22 lifeboats, 11
on each side, showing Captain Turner's pre-
(4)
THE LUSITANIA'S LAST VOYAGE
paredness towards emergency. I was keenly
interested in all that was done aboard ship as
we approached the Irish Coast, and in fact all
through the voyage I kept my eyes unusually
wide open.
At night the shades in the saloon were
closely drawn, and I noticed that my bedroom
steward left a note for the night watchman
stating just which ports were open when he
(the steward) went off duty.
Friday noon when the run was posted I
was surprised, for I certainly thought that
this was the time to put on speed. The sea
was smooth as a pancake, an ideal chance for
a dash up the coast. When I heard the fog
horn early Friday morning I turned over and
took another snooze, for there was no use in
getting up if it was foggy and disagreeable
weather. The fog did not last long and was
nothing more than a morning mist.
I got up at noon and had time for a stroll
(5)
THE LUSITANIA'S LAST VOYAGE
around the deck before lunch at 1 o'clock.
I noticed that we were not going anywhere
near top speed and were following, as I re-
membered, the usual course up the Irish
Coast, that being about 5 to 7 miles dis-
tant. I wondered at our loafing along at this
gentle pace.
When I bought my ticket at the Cunard
Office hi Boston I asked if we were to be con-
voyed through the war zone, and the reply
made was, "Oh yes! every precaution will
be taken."
When we got into Queenstown I found
the people furious through the act itself and
disgusted that three torpedo-boat destroyers
should have lain at anchor in Queenstown
harbor all the tune the Lusitania was coming
up the Irish Coast. Some of the men along
the sea front told me that these boats had
been out during the morning, but had come
back for "lunch." They all turned up after
(6)
THE LUSITANIA'S LAST VOYAGE
the tragedy, but they could have been used
to better advantage before it.
After lunch I went to my stateroom and
put on my sweater under the coat of the
knickerbocker suit that I was wearing and
went up on deck for a real walk. I came
up the main companion-way and stepped
out on the port side of the steamer and saw
Mr. and Mrs. Elbert Hubbard standing by
the rail, a little for'ard of the entrance. I
joined them and was conversing with them
when the torpedo struck the ship. In fact,
Mr. Hubbard had just jokingly remarked
that he didn't believe he would be a welcome
traveller to Germany, owing to the little
essay he had written entitled "Who Lifted
the Lid Off Hell." Mr. Hubbard had not
more than finished this remark when the
shock came. This "essay" appeared in the
"Philistine" for October, 1914, and Mr.
Hubbard had given me a copy earlier on
(7)
THE LUSITANIA'S LAST VOYAGE
the voyage. If you want to read a piece
of vitriolic English, I suggest that you send
for a copy.
Where I stood on deck the shock of the
impact was not severe; it was a heavy,
rather muffled sound, but the good ship
trembled for a moment under the force of
the blow; a second explosion quickly fol-
lowed, but I do not think it was a second
torpedo, for the sound was quite different;
it was more likely a boiler in the engine room.
As I turned to look hi the direction of the
explosion I saw a shower of coal and steam
and some debris hurled into the air between
the second and third funnels, and then heard
the fall of gratings and other wreckage that
had been blown up by the explosion.
Remember that I was standing well for'ard
on the port side, and consequently looked
back at the scene of the explosion, at an angle
across to the starboard side; therefore, al-
(8)
THE LUSITANIA'S LAST VOYAGE
though the debris showed between the second
and third funnels, I think the blow was de-
livered practically in line with the fourth
funnel.
I looked immediately at my watch and
it was exactly 8 minutes past 9 (A.M.)
Boston time, which means 8 minutes past
2 Greenwich time.
I turned to the Hubbards and suggested
that they go to their stateroom to get their
life jackets. Their cabin was on deck B, on
the port side, at the foot of the main com-
panion-way, and they had ample time to go
there and get back to the deck; but Mr. Hub-
bard stayed by the rail affectionately holding
his arm around his wife's waist and both
seemed unable to act.
I went straight down to my stateroom,
which, as you will remember, was the most
for'ard one on deck B on the starboard side.
The boat had taken a list to starboard, but
(9)
THE LUSITANIA'S LAST VOYAGE
it was not acute, and so I had no difficulty in
making my way to and from my cabin. I
tied on a life belt, took the others in the room
and my small leather case containing my
business papers, and went up on deck to the
port side. I went back to the spot where I
had left the Hubbards, but they had gone,
and I never saw them again.
I found those who needed the life belts,
put them on, tied them properly, and then
went aft along the port side of the ship,
for I was confident that all hands would
naturally rush to the starboard side and so
there would be more opportunity to help
along the port side. I turned and walked
for'ard toward the bridge, and Captain Tur-
ner and Captain Anderson were both calling
in stentorian tones not to lower away the
boats, ordering all passengers and sailors to
get out of them, saying that there was no dan-
ger and that the ship would float. A woman
( 10)
THE LUSITANIA'S LAST VOYAGE
passenger beside me called out to Captain
Turner in a perfectly clear and calm voice,
"Captain, what do you wish us to do?"
"Stay right where you are, Madam, she's
all right." Then the woman asked him,
"Where do you get your information?" —
and he replied in rather a severe and com-
manding voice, "From the engine room,
Madam." She and I turned and walked
quietly aft and tried to reassure the pas-
sengers we met.
As I looked around to see to whom I could
be of the greatest help it seemed to me that
about everyone who passed me wearing a
life belt had it on incorrectly. In their hurry
they put them on every way except the
right way: one man had his arm through
one armhole and his head through the
other; others had them on around the waist
and upside down; but very few had them on
correctly. I stopped these people and spoke
(11)
THE LUSITANIA'S LAST VOYAGE
to them in a calm voice and persuaded them
to let me help them on with the belts, for
they certainly stood no show in the water
rigged as they were. At first they thought I
was trying to take their jackets from them,
but on reassuring them they let me straighten
them out.
I had been watching carefully the list of
the steamer, and by now I was confident
that she wouldn't float and that the end was
coming fast. I remembered one or two per-
sonal things in my stateroom which I very
much wanted, and I figured that I had time
to go down and get them. If I didn't come
through the final plunge, I wanted to feel I
had them with me, and if I did get through,
I was just as sure I wanted them, so there
didn't seem anything to do but to get them,
which I did.
There was a companion-way for'ard of the
main staircase, about half-way between it
THE LUSITANIA'S LAST VOYAGE
and my stateroom, so I went along the port
passage inside of deck A, down that com-
panion-way, and along the starboard pas-
sage to my stateroom. It was not until I
walked along this passage that I realized
how acute was the list of the ship. My state-
room was an inside one without a porthole,
and consequently could be lighted only by
electricity. I pressed the switch, but the light
had gone, so I put my hand on a box of
matches; for each night when I retired I
placed a box in a particular place, just in
case I needed it. With the aid of these
matches I found the little article for which I
was looking, opened my travelling bag, and
took out some papers which included my
passport and other envelopes that could
easily be slipped into my inside pocket.
I had kept my drafts on my person, for I
figured that there was no use in giving them
to the purser, except as a precaution against
( 13)
THE LUSITANIA'S LAST VOYAGE
theft, and that was negligible. If what had
happened was to happen, I knew there would
be no time to reclaim them from the purser.
I made my way back along the passage,
walking in the angle formed by the floor
and the side walls of the staterooms rather
than the floor, and went back up the for'ard
companion-way, the same that I came down.
Going along the passage (on deck B) I
looked down some of the cross passages that
lead to the staterooms, and at the bottom of
the ones I passed I saw that the portholes
were open and that the water could not have
been more than a few feet from them. Here
let me state that I consider it most extraor-
dinary that the portholes on the lower decks
should not have been closed and sealed as we
steamed through the war zone. At luncheon
the portholes hi the dining-saloon on deck
D were open, and so I doubt not that
all the others on that deck were open.
( 14)
THE LUSITANIA'S LAST VOYAGE
I mean those in the staterooms. I cannot
speak with certainty in regard to the port-
holes on deck E. I believe that the first list
the ship took brought her down to these
open ports on the starboard side and that
she sank much more quickly from filling
through them.
On my return to the deck I felt that the
steamer must make her final plunge any mo-
ment now, and as there was nothing more that
could be done on the port side — for there was
no discipline or order with which to do it — I
passed through to the starboard side. Men
were striving to lower the boats and were
putting women and children into them, but it
seemed to me that it only added horror to
the whole situation to put people into a
boat that you knew never would be cleared
and which would go down with the steamer;
better leave them on the deck to let them
take their chance at a piece of wreckage.
(15)
THE LUSITANIA'S LAST VOYAGE
True, there was no panic, in the sense that
anyone crowded or pushed his way to the
lifeboats, but there was infinite confusion,
and there seemed no one to take command of
any one boat.
As I came out on the starboard side, I
saw, a little aft of the mam entrance, a
lifeboat well filled with people, principally
women and children, that no one had at-
tempted to clear from the davits. The
steamer was rapidly sinking, and I realized
that the boat must be cleared at once if
the people were to be saved.
I climbed into the stern of the boat, which
was floating flush with the rail of deck B,
so far had the steamer settled, and helped
clear the fall. We freed our end and swung
the ropes clear, but we couldn't make anyone
for'ard understand what to do or how to
do it.
I remember looking for'ard and seeing
( 16)
THE LUSITANIA'S LAST VOYAGE
someone, I think it was a steward, bravely
cutting away at the thick ropes with a pocket
knife. How I wish he had had an axe!
What would I have given for one real sailor
man for'ard; we could have saved that
boatload of people. I started to go for'ard,
but it w.as impossible to climb through that
boatload of people, mixed up as they were
with oars, boat hooks, kegs of water,
rope ladders, sails, and God knows what —
everything that seemed to hinder progress
to getting for'ard. The steamer was
all the time rapidly settling, and to look
at the tremendous smokestack hanging
out over us only added to the terror
of the people in the boat. I certainly
did not blame them, for it was a har-
rowing sight, even to one as familiar with
the ocean as I am. However, I should
have gone for'ard and made the try, ex-
cept that the stern end of the boat was
( 17)
THE LUSITANIA'S LAST VOYAGE
raised by a small swell of the ocean and I
was impressed by the nearness of the davit
by getting a blow on the back which nearly
knocked me overboard.
Then I admit that I saw the hopeless-
ness of ever clearing the f or'ard davit in time
to get the boat away, so I stepped out and
made a try for it by swimming. I spoke to
several and urged them to come; but truly
they were petrified, and only my training
from boyhood up, in the water and under it,
gave me the courage to jump. I swam about
100 feet away from the ship and then turned
around to see if anyone was following to
whom I could lend a hand, and found several
who needed encouragement. Also I wanted
to see when the final plunge of the steamer
came, that I might be the more ready to
fight against the vortex and tell the others.
The Lusitania did not go down anything
like head first: she had, rather, settled along
( 18)
THE LUSITANIA'S LAST VOYAGE
her whole water line. This convinces me
that practically all the ports must have been
open, even those as far down as Deck E.
The stern did not rise to anything like a
perpendicular, nor did it rise so high that I
could see a single one of the propellers or
even the end of her rudder. Not one of
her funnels fell.
The last I saw of the lifeboat out of which I
jumped was that she was being pulled down,
bow first, as the tackle had not been freed
and the stern of the boat was rising high in
the air. While the people were thrown out,
they were not so violently thrown as those
from some of the lifeboats that were dropped
when half lowered into the water.
There was very little vortex; there was
rather a shooting out from the ship instead
of a sucking in, after she sank; this I am told
was partly caused by the water rushing into
her funnels and being blown out again by ex-
( 19 )
THE LUSITANIA'S LAST VOYAGE
plosions made by the mixing of the cold water
of the sea with the steam of the boilers. I
saw an interesting statement in one of the
papers, purporting to have come from Cap-
tain Turner, in which he stated that the small
amount of suction was probably due to the
fact that the bow of the boat was already
resting on the bottom when the stern went
down. This seems quite feasible, as she sank
in about 60 fathoms (360 feet) of water and
she was 755 feet long.
The sea was wonderfully smooth, and it
seemed to me that if one could keep clear of
the wreck and pick up a lifeboat, that it
could be manned and that we could go
back and get many survivors. I was able to
work this out quite as I planned.
As I waited for the final plunge something
caught me on the top of my head and slipped
down to my shoulders, pressing me under
the water; I couldn't imagine what it was,
(20)
THE LUSITANIA'S LAST VOYAGE
but on turning to see I found that it was
one of the aerials of the wireless that stretched
from topmast to topmast.
The present style of life belt, or rather
jacket, is not the old-fashioned kind filled
with hard cork, but a larger and more bulky
affair filled with fibre, and when you have
it on you look and feel like a padded foot-
ball player, especially around the shoulders.
When I shook this wire off my head, it
caught me around the shoulders on the soft
pad, and I couldn't shake it off. It took me
down under the water and turned me upside
down. I tell you I "kicked." I came up
none the worse for my ducking, for it simply
reminded me of one of my various trips down
to see "Susy the Mermaid" when I was a
youngster at Camp Asquam and the older
boys used to duck us youngsters anywhere
from five to fifteen times a day, according to
the unpardonable sins we were supposed to
(21 )
THE LUSITANIA'S LAST VOYAGE
have committed; and these weren't mere
"duckings" either. They used to push us
under, put their feet on our shoulders, and
then give a good shove, so that we went down
anywhere from six to sixteen feet under
water. I hated the duckings at that time,
but they proved mighty good training!
When I came up, after shaking the Mar-
coni wire, the waves bearing the wreckage
and people were upon me. After swimming
around and helping those I could by pushing
them pieces of wreckage to which to cling,
I saw a short distance away a collapsible
lifeboat floating right side up, swam to it,
and climbed aboard. A seaman quickly fol-
lowed, and a fine husky chap he proved to be.
I heard my name called, and for the moment
I didn't realize whether it was a call from
Heaven or Hell, but when I turned in the di-
rection of the voice I found the man to be
G , one of the three men with whom I
( 22 )
THE LUSITANIA'S LAST VOYAGE
had played cards each evening. I pulled
him up on the boat, and we three got out our
jackknives and went at a kind of can-open-
ing operation, which was really the remov-
ing of the canvas cover of the boat.
They call that invention a "boat," but to
start with, it is nothing but a "raft." Let
me try to draw you a word picture and see
if you will understand it.
Suppose you floated a real lifeboat in the
water, and at the water line cut down the sides
so that the bottom of the boat that was left
floated flush with the water. Then deck over
and make watertight this part of the boat
that is left. This gives you a round bot-
tomed, watertight raft, floating almost flush
with the water.
Take a long piece of about 24-inch high (or
wide) canvas that will reach all around the
sides from one end back to the same end. Nail
the lower edge of this canvas to the outside
( 23 )
THE LUSITANIA'S LAST VOYAGE
edge of the "raft." To enable you to raise
these "collapsible" canvas sides and to keep
them hi place, make a stout rail that will be
curved to the shape of the floor of the "raft"
and nail the top edge of the canvas on to it.
This now "collapsible boat," with its fold-
ing canvas sides, is of course shallow, and
about three or four of them can be nested
on the deck of a steamer in the space occu-
pied by a "real lifeboat." There is a canvas
cover laced down over the top of these boats,
the same as on regular boats.
Before you can do anything with a collap-
sible lifeboat you must make it a "real
boat" by lifting up its canvas sides and lash-
ing them in place so they can't collapse.
Until this is done you have nothing but a
"raft." It is almost impossible to lift the rail
into place if there are people hanging on to it,
as that would mean lifting the people as well.
Also, you can't lift the sides, which automat-
(24)
THE LUSITANIA'S LAST VOYAGE
ically raise the cross seats, if there is anyone
lying across the boat, and you can't get on
the "raft" without getting on the seats.
We tried to persuade the people who were
hanging on to the rail to take off then* hands
and hang on to the life ropes — but that was
impossible. Never have I heard a more dis-
tressing cry of despair than when I tried to
tell one of them that that was what we were
doing. In their condition I don't wonder
they thought we were trying to push them
off. So we had to take some aboard, those
who were in the most panicky condition, and
try to get up the sides with the "raft" half
covered with people.
The seats of these boats are attached to
an iron brace which is supposed to slide on a
metal run in the middle of the boat. A
wooden brace at either end is held in place by
a pin when the sides are raised to their proper
height, but, as the saying is, "There warn't
(25)
THE LUSITANIA'S LAST VOYAGE
no pin" and the wooden brace in my end of
the boat was broken and the metal run for the
iron braces of the seats was so rusted and cor-
roded that it wasn't a "run;" so there we
were, back to a raft again.
Not an oar in the boat, nor even a stick with
which to reach wreckage so that we could
block up the seats. We must get those seats
braced up to give us the protection of the can-
vas sides, and they mustn't fall down either,
because then the "boat" became a "raft,"
the people became a little more panicky, and
the falling seats hurt and slightly injured the
people sitting between them, for of course
we had to seat those too exhausted to pull
and haul on the floor between the seats.
We had to have some oars too to make
the boat navigable, so we fished round in the
wreckage and were fortunate to get five oars
(one broken, but that served me as a steer-
ing oar) and some blocks. Then with a long
(26)
THE LUSITANIA'S LAST VOYAGE
heave and a heave all together we raised the
blasted seats as far as possible, but not to
their proper height, and jammed the blocks
under them. We were lucky to get blocks
that act as supports to a real lifeboat, which,
as you know, have notches cut on the long
side. These blocks are like little steps, so
that we were able to shove them under the
seats to the limit.
About the fifth man aboard the boat was
a chap named B ; he was a husky, no mis-
take. He weighed about 200 pounds and
was all good material. This man G was
another good one too; he deserved his name.
By this time we must have had fifteen peo-
ple in our now "non-collapsible boat." Let
us thank God for the "non."
I went aft and took the steering oar and
my two huskies, B and the sailor man,
rowed the heavy sweeps, and G stayed
for'ard to help the people in. We headed
(27)
THE LUSITANIA'S LAST VOYAGE
back into the wreckage and picked up those
who seemed most urgently in need.
I won't enter into the detail of the condi-
tion of the poor souls we got, but two instances
of nerve stand out so clearly in my mind that
I must tell them. Both pertain to women,
and never have I seen greater courage and
patience shown by anyone.
I heard a call near my end of the boat and
told the boys to back water, and I reached
over and pulled hi a woman who I thought
at first glance was a negress; I never be-
lieved a white woman could be so black. I
learned afterwards that she and her husband
had got into a lifeboat, and while he was busy
helping to clear it she got panic-stricken by
the tremendous overhanging funnels and
jumped back on to the steamer without her
husband knowing it. She was aboard when
the final plunge came, and the suction took
her part way down one of the funnels, but
(28)
THE LUSITANIA'S LAST VOYAGE
the thankful explosion blew her forth, out
into clear water, in among the wreckage,
where she could hang on. The clothes were
almost blown off the poor woman, and there
wasn't a white spot on her except her teeth
and the whites of her eyes. Marvellous to
say she wasn't hurt and proved a great help
in cheering us all by her bright talk.
For coolness I think this second case is
even more remarkable. We had about as
many hi our boat as we ought to take when
I heard a woman's voice say, in just as nat-
ural a tone of voice as you would ask for
another slice of bread and butter, "Won't
you take me next? you know I can't swim."
WTien I looked over into the mass of wreck-
age from which this voice emanated all I
could see was a woman's head, with a piece
of wreckage under her chin and with her
hair streaming out over other pieces of wreck-
age. She was so jammed in she couldn't even
( 29 )
THE LUSITANIA'S LAST VOYAGE
get her arms out, and with it all she had a half
smile on her face and was placidly chewing
gum. The last I saw of her when I helped
her off the boat at Queenstown was that she
was still chewing that piece of gum, and I
shouldn't be surprised if she had it yet. Of
course, we couldn't leave her, and as there
was no possible way that I dared try to get
her without going into the water for her, I
told her that if she'd keep cool I'd come
after her. To my surprise she said it was
not at all necessary, just hand her an oar
and she'd hang on. That is the last thing
in the world I should ever have dared to do,
for naturally I thought, in view of the fact
that she could not swim, that as soon as I
cleared away the wreckage with an oar she'd
get rattled and sink. After what she had
said I got my huskies to back through the
wreckage till my oar would reach to her.
Then I placed it as close to her face as I
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THE LUSITANIA'S LAST VOYAGE
could and she wriggled around and got her
two hands on the oar, held fast, and we pulled
her through.
Then we rowed for the shore. G took
the for'ard port oar, and somewhere in the
shuffle we had picked up a couple of the stok-
ers, and while they weren't very big men they
were red-headed cockneys and they were
trumps. Their conversation was something
to remember; I shall never forget it. They
two rowed the for'ard starboard oar, B
rowed the after port oar, and the sailor man
rowed the after starboard oar. Others helped
push on the oars and so we had a good crew.
I steered for a lighthouse on the coast, for
I didn't know whether the Marconi operator
had had time to send out an S. O. S., or if
he had, whether or not it had been picked up.
It was a good long row ashore and I knew we
could not get there until after dark, and it
was much better to land on a shore, however
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THE LUSITANIA'S LAST VOYAGE
barren, near a lighthouse than to land on
that part where there might not be an inhab-
itant for miles; also I saw the sail of a fisher-
man between us and the lighthouse, so I
had two goals for which to steer.
The lighthouse for which we were steering
was that on the Head of Old Kinsale. There
were already two real lifeboats between us
and the shore. We had stayed around and
picked up everyone who seemed to be in the
most helpless condition. Those we were
forced to leave were as safe as if we had over-
crowded them into our flimsy craft. The
calmness of the sea was the only thing that
enabled us to take on so many, with any
degree of safety.
We must have rowed about a quarter of a
mile toward shore, when off in the distance
I saw one lone man floating around by him-
self. He seemed to prefer his own society to
anyone's else by going off "on his own,"
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THE LUSITANIA'S LAST VOYAGE
but apparently he had changed his mind and
got lonesome, for he sure did yell. He looked
safe enough, as he had one of the big round
white lifebuoys around his body, under his
arms, and he was perfectly safe from sinking.
I was pretty sure that according to the rules
of the blessed "Board of Trade" we had
all the people in our boat that our license
would allow us to carry. Still I headed for
the chap, for you couldn't go off and leave
that one more soul float ing around. It was
lucky we went for him for he was in pretty
bad shape, but recovered all right after we
got him ashore. This chap turned out to be
McM , a fine Canadian fellow and a man
of some experience in shipwreck, for he was
on the Republic when she sank.
After rowing about two miles we came up
to the fishing smack, and although they had
already taken on two boatloads, they made
room for us. Before anyone left our boat
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THE LUSITANIA'S LAST VOYAGE
I counted heads and found we had 32 aboard !
It wasn't just the time to hunt souvenirs,
but I took my steersman's oarlock with me;
it will do for a paper weight.
Aboard the fisherman I witnessed one of
the most affecting scenes of all. It seems
that the husband of the temporary negress we
picked up was aboard, and as we approached
she recognized him and called to him; but
he stood at the rail with a perfectly blank
expression on his face and refused to recognize
his own wife. Not until we were directly
alongside and he could lean over and look the
woman squarely in the face did he realize
that his wife had been given back to him.
The old fishermen did everything in their
power for us; they pulled up all the blankets
from their bunks, they started the fire and
made us tea while tea lasted, and after that
boiled us water. The old ship was positively
slippery with fish scales and the usual dirt
(34)
THE LUSITANIA'S LAST VOYAGE
of fishermen, but the deck of that boat,
under our feet, felt as good as the front
halls of our own homes.
The sight aboard that craft was a pitiful
one, for while most of the first two boat-
loads of people that got aboard were dry,
many of them had in their excitement re-
moved much of their clothing before getting
into the boat and consequently were, by
this time, pretty thoroughly chilled. Those
in my boat were in the saddest condition,
for each one had been thoroughly soaked
and some of them had been through terrible
experiences. There is practically no cabin
on one of these little fishermen, so all hands
had to stay on deck, except a few that were
able to help themselves down into the so-
called cabin. The worst injured of course
had to stay on deck. I gave my sweater to
a chap who had on nothing but an under-
shirt and a pair of trousers, and I loaned my
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THE LUSITANIA'S LAST VOYAGE
coat to a woman until we got into Queens-
town. There were not nearly enough blan-
kets aboard for each to have one. There
were over 80 people on that small boat.
After being aboard about an hour we were
picked up by the steamer Flying Fish
which had come down from Queenstown.
We were made comfortable on this good old
packet. You will remember she is a side-
wheeler and one of the tenders that came
out to meet the ocean steamers before they
were not too proud to stop at Queenstown.
The ocean was so calm that when we
transferred our passengers to the Flying
Fish we were able to lay the fisherman
alongside the steamer and those who could
stepped across. The two boats lay so close
and steadily together that we carried our
cripples across in our arms. The smooth-
ness of the ocean must have been a special
dispensation from Heaven.
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THE LUSITANIA'S LAST VOYAGE
We were torpedoed at 8 minutes past 2.
I went overboard and my watch stopped at
9:30 Boston time, 2:30 Greenwich. I
figure I was hi the water three or four min-
utes before my watch stopped. I think the
sweater which I had on under my coat
and the life belt that I had tied on made
it slower work for the water to get at my
watch.
We must have been an hour and a half
getting the boat into shape and picking up
the people from the wreckage, and we must
have been rowing two hours before we reached
the fishing smack at 6:00.
By 7:00 we were on the Flying Fish, and
tied up to the pier in Queenstown at 9:15, so
you see we fared quite well. It was quite
ludicrous to be held up by the patrol boat
at the mouth of Queenstown Harbour and
to be asked in formal tones, "What ship is
that?" and to hear the captain reply,
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THE LUSITANIA'S LAST VOYAGE
"The ship Flying Fish, with survivors of
the Lusitania." Word was immediately
given us to go on.
This is where there came very near
being a real fight. It happened this way —
Two steamers had passed the Flying Fish
on the way in and were tied up at the Cunard
dock ahead of us, so we were told to land
at the dock below. That was all very
well, but the captain informed us that we
couldn't go ashore until he had reported to
the "inspector." I knew that the 100 odd
people that we had on the Flying Fish
didn't care about any "inspector" that ever
grew in the town of Queenstown, but what
they wanted and needed and ought to have
was hot drink and food just as soon as they
could get it. The captain, with true Irish
stubbornness, went to do his duty ashore as
"he seen it." We let the captain get around
the corner out of sight and then G and
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THE LUSITANIA'S LAST VOYAGE
I started to put the gangplank over, but
were told by some figure standing on the dock
that we must wait for the captain's return.
We gave this figure, whom we presume was
a guard, three seconds to get out of the way
or get knocked down by the gangplank.
He moved, and we ran out the gangplank
and handed our passengers ashore. Those
who were able to navigate by themselves
walked up the streets to the various hotels.
Then we got down to our two cripples: one
was a man in our collapsible lifeboat and
one a woman we found on the fishing smack.
Each had a broken leg. And right here let me
tell you an instance of nerve displayed by
this man B , whose leg was broken. We
had taken him into our boat before we got
the seats braced up, for he was in pretty
bad shape and we were afraid to leave him
longer in the water. He was in the bottom
of the boat, partially sitting on one of the
(39)
THE LUSITANIA'S LAST VOYAGE
seats, and when we endeavored to heave up
on them, I spoke to him rather roughly and
asked him if he couldn't get off. He looked
up to me with half a smile and said, "I
would, old chap; but did you know I have
a broken leg and can't move very fast?" I
was careful how I spoke after that!
I went ashore to see if I could find an am-
bulance or stretchers. A little way up the
street in front of the Cunard office I found
about 20 Naval Reserve men drawn up in
squares of four; each squad was armed with
a folding canvas stretcher. They were as fine
a lot of men as I ever saw, and when I told
them I had two cripples and needed two
stretchers they didn't wait there for any
commands from a real officer; they just
asked me where were they, and I marched
them down to the boat double quick.
It was low tide when we got into Queens-
town and consequently the landing had to be
(40)
THE LUSITANIA'S LAST VOYAGE
made from the top of the paddle box. This
necessitated all hands going up a very narrow
companion-way, built on the side of the
paddle box and so too narrow and too steep
to permit the carrying of a stretcher. I
went aboard and carried the two cripples
ashore on my back. To get them ashore
this way must have hurt them terribly, but
never a groan from the woman nor from the
man. The fact that injured people could
show such nerve as this gave us fellows who
were not injured the physical strength to
do all that we did do.
One of the women in our boat went along
with the girl with the broken leg to the
hospital, and so I felt she'd be well taken care
of. This chap B refused to let anyone
accompany him to the Marine Hospital,
having perfect confidence in the four Naval
Reserve men who carried the stretcher, and
certainly that confidence was justified.
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THE LUSITANIA'S LAST VOYAGE
The last chap we picked up in the boat,
McM , had a badly sprained ankle, and
as I seemed about the right height he was
using me as a human crutch.
When we went up the street in Queens-
town it was filled with people willing to
help and do anything hi their power to relieve
our sufferings. I have heard stories of
Scottish hospitality, but I never saw any-
thing more spontaneous or genuine or more
freely given than the Irish hospitality of
Queenstown.
McM and I were hi pretty good
shape and were well dried off, and while his
ankle pained him a good deal and I was pretty
much cut up around the forehead and nose
by the aerial, we were able to navigate by
ourselves.
We went directly to the Post Office and
I sent my "Safe and Sound" cable to you
people. Then McM and I went up the
'( 42 )
THE LUSITANIA'S LAST VOYAGE
street, and the hospitality of Queenstown
storekeepers, inspired by the idea of mak-
ing a few extra sales had caused them
to open their shops at that time of night,
and we went in and bought a couple of sets
of pajamas of the thickest wool that I ever
put on. "Out-sizes" they were, but they
proved none too "out." About the second
time they are washed I expect they will fit
the boy, but they felt mighty comfortable
that night.
We had quite a time finding a place to
rest our weary heads and warm our chilled
bodies. I kept away from the two main
hotels, because I knew they were filled with
the people who arrived on the first two
steamers. When we got near the centre of
the town I asked a native to tell us of some
small place where we could get rooms. He
directed us to the little hostelry "Imperial
Bar." It was a perfectly appropriate name.
(43)
THE LUSITANIA'S LAST VOYAGE
The hospitality of the manageress was "Im-
perial" and the "Bar" was good.
At the door we found a Mr. and Mrs.
K . He was badly injured. He had
been brought to the hotel by the reserves on
a stretcher. He was not in bad enough
shape to go to a hospital, but he couldn't
walk. The K 's got a double room and
McM and I took the other spare
room.
He turned in and I turned out. I went
down into the town, for I knew I could be
of help to some of the survivors. I got back
at midnight and went to bed. I didn't
have to lie awake and think about going to
sleep, for I had been standing and moving
around under a strain for some 10 hours,
so I just passed off into a dead, dreamless
sleep. My clothes were almost dry, and I
wasn't suffering from a chill. We have al-
ways heard that Scottish hospitality is ac-
(44)
THE LUSITANIA'S LAST VOYAGE
companied by a draught of the national
beverage, and in justice to the old landlady I
must say that she didn't omit to give me a
draught of the Irish national beverage. She
told me it was made by her old grandfather,
and certainly he knows how to make Irish
whiskey! I woke up McM and we
repeated the dose on him. He didn't cry at
being waked up in a good cause!
Saturday morning I was up and dressed at
six o'clock, and the dear old woman gave me
a dish of tea and some bread and butter in
the kitchen, and I started for the town to buy
some raiment for people that I knew were
practically destitute. I had dressed in the
kitchen, where it was warm and my clothes
were dry. My wardrobe was complete, even
to my shoes, for I had not removed anything
when I went overboard. The landlady had
kept the fire going all night and had dried all
our apparel, but as the other three were not
(45)
THE LUSITANIA'S LAST VOYAGE
going out as early as I was she gave mine the
preference, and I left the house feeling warm
and comfortable.
As I walked down from our little hotel I
shall never forget that beautiful morning in
the quaint old town of Queenstown. The
sun was shining warmly, and hardly a breath
of air was stirring. As the day grew older
and the people who had been rescued turned
out into the street, it was as sad a sight as
I ever care to see. It was surprising that so
many people had removed most of their
clothing before taking to the water the day
before.
I found many who had no ready cash, and
I soon made good use of the English pounds
I had bought before I left home. Then I
bethought myself of the £40.0.0 draft I
had. I had not *' crossed " this, so it was good
for cash if I could get anybody to cash it.
The bank doesn't open at Queenstown until
(46)
THE LUSITANIA'S LAST VOYAGE
10 o'clock, and you can bet I was there at
ten minutes to. I rang the bell and got in-
side, took out the still half-soaked draft,
endorsed it in the presence of the cashier,
handed it in and said I would take the
£40.0.0 half in gold and half in paper. He
told me he didn't know me; and I told him
that didn't make any difference, I didn't
know him. He said he couldn't guarantee
my signature, but I told him that I thought
my signature was as good as his money. I
produced my soaked passport and showed him
my autograph on that, to compare with that
on the draft, and I told him that I had about
12 half -starved, half -naked Americans that
had to be fed and clothed, and certainly his
big Irish heart wouldn't permit him to refuse
to cash an honest draft. I told him I in-
tended to stay right there until I got it; and
I did, and I talked to him a steady string,
and I didn't get a bit hard-hearted when
(47 )
THE LUSITANIA'S LAST VOYAGE
he told me he'd probably lose his job if the
draft turned out bad. The £40.0.0 was a
God-send. I divided it up into as small
fractions as possible, and it was able to help
out a number of people.
Right here I want to say that the United
States consul at Queenstown, Wesley Frost,
is a real man, and before noon word had
been passed around that Ambassador Page
had sent him plenty of funds for all Ameri-
cans. Perhaps if I had known this money
was coming, I wouldn't have given that hon-
est Irish paying teller in the bank such an
attack of heart disease.
Then I went back to the "Bar" and my
landlady gave me a real breakfast, for I felt
that I needed to get stoked up a bit before I
took on the unhappy task of viewing the
bodies to see if I could identify any of my
fellow passengers. It was a hard thing to
put through, and I regret to say that it was
(48)
THE LUSITANIA'S LAST VOYAGE
without satisfactory results, for I found not
one that I knew.
In the slip beside the Cunard wharf there
were six lifeboats, Nos. 1, 11, 13, 15, 19, and
21; these were all starboard boats, and you
will notice what a jump there is between
the numbers 1 and 11. As the ship went
down by the head, of course it gave more
time to clear the after boats which carry the
higher numbers. I didn't see one boat suc-
cessfully cleared from the port side.
I had decided to go through that day to
London on the 3 o'clock train and help
through the K 's. McM , my bed-
fellow, had found his friend L , and as he
was in good hands and wanted to rest up a
bit he decided to stay. There was no chance
of getting K up on to a jaunting car,
he was suffering too much, so I went out into
the street and held up a private motor car,
for you couldn't hire one in Queenstown, and
(49)
THE LUSITANIA'S LAST VOYAGE
after a few words of explanation the owner
came gladly to the hotel and took Mr. and
Mrs. K to the station.
We had a comfortable trip to Kingstown
and got aboard the Irish mail packet for an-
other little trip on the water. We had tele-
graphed ahead for a cabin, and we got K
stretched out in one of the berths and made
him as comfortable as we could. He slept
from sheer exhaustion. Mrs. K and I
half sat up on the opposite sofa. Shortly the
steamer was under way. It was not what you
would call a desirable cabin, for it was directly
over the engines and they pounded terrifically;
I'll admit that about every throb of the en-
gines went through the pit of my stomach,
but finally I dozed off, for I was pretty much
"all in." I must have waked at intervals of
ten or fifteen minutes, and on looking out of
the corner of my eye at Mrs. K I saw
one of the most charming pieces of devotion
(50)
THE LUSITANIA'S LAST VOYAGE
that I have ever witnessed. I am confident
she never closed her eyes all night nor did she
take them off her husband's face — she just
silently watched. I had slept about an hour,
when I went up on deck to see what was doing.
In passing through the saloon a weird sight
met my eyes and one that I am glad the
K 's did not see. Every man who had
been a passenger on the Lusitania was sitting
by a table or reclining on a couch, with a life-
belt strapped around him. Many had the
original ones from the Lusitania. It was
certainly "a gloom." I went up on deck
and that was still more weird. Not a light
to be seen; every porthole was heavily cur-
tained and heavy canvas was stretched along
the side, and the only thing visible was the
masthead light. It was blowing half a gale
and we were making 23.8 knots per hour.
As I came around the corner from the
shelter of the cabin the wind nearly struck
(51)
THE LUSITANIA'S LAST VOYAGE
me off my feet. The canvas was slatting
back and forth with reports like cannon, and
I clung to the rail fascinated by this wild dash.
Would that the " Lucy " had shown such speed !
There was a haze that could almost be called
a fog, but no horn was sounded as we tore
through the black night. I crawled back to
the shelter of the cuddy and there found the
second Officer. He was a fine chap and we
had a chat in his cabin. That wild dash I
shan't forget for one while!
We arrived on time at Holyhead and I
found the stateroom on the train for which I
had wired. Clad in that famous pan* of Irish
pajamas, before the train hauled out of the
station I was dead to the world. It must have
been just about one o'clock A.M. I knew
nothing until quarter to seven, when the
attendant told me that we would arrive at
Euston in 15 minutes. He brought in a dish
of tea and some bread and butter. Ye gods,
(52)
THE LUSITANIA'S LAST VOYAGE
didn't that taste good! I had had no food
for twelve hours. I asked him for a repeat
order. Then I went back in the train and
found the K 's, and they were quite re-
freshed and told me not to bother with them
longer, as they could manage to get in a taxi
as soon as they were dressed. They were
going to her parents, who live in London.
I left them for a moment saying that I
would return and stepped out on the plat-
form. Euston Station at seven o'clock on
a Sunday morning is generally not a lively
place, and I didn't think that there would be
anyone there, or at least not more than a few
people to meet friends. I hadn't stepped a
foot from the door of the coach when I was
almost mobbed by a bunch of reporters.
Talk of it. Good heavens, I wanted quiet;
I didn't want to be interviewed. I stood per-
fectly still and never said a word; they must
have thought I was tongue-tied. Then a
(53)
THE LUSITANIA'S LAST VOYAGE
poor old woman pushed her way through
and asked me, with tears in her eyes, if I
had seen "Johnny Keene." How could I
answer her? From her appearance I judge
he must have been a stoker or in the third
cabin. I told her as gently as I could that
I hadn't seen him, but many others were
coming through in the second and third
sections and he might be among them.
When the reporters found they couldn't get
anything out of me they cleared out, and
I was surrounded by friends and relatives of
the passengers, who asked me a dozen ques-
tions, but I couldn't give any cheerful answers.
My nerve wasn't any too good for this ordeal,
and I was fast breaking down when a young
man pushed through and asked me if I was
an American. When I told him " Yes " he
said that he was secretary to Ambassador
Page, and was there anything he could do
for me. I almost fell on his neck with joy,
(54 )
THE LUSITANIA'S LAST VOYAGE
and he took me down to where the Ambas-
sador was standing and introduced me to him.
It was a pleasure to hear Ambassador Page
say, "What, not the son of the Mr. Lauriat
of Boston"! So you see, my father, your
name is not without honour in your own
city. The Ambassador's sympathy was
warmly expressed, and he was putting me
into the Embassy motor car — for I didn't
care where I went as long as I got away from
that station platform — when I saw Mr. Wai-
ford coming down the platform. I excused
myself and stopped him.
I had wired Mr. Walford (our resident
London agent) before leaving Queenstown,
asking him to meet me if convenient and to
have a taxi. I knew that he lived far out in
the suburbs, and that if he were not fore-
warned there would be no way of his getting
to the station on Sunday morning. Pre-
viously hi the day (Saturday) when I had
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THE LUSITANIA'S LAST VOYAGE
wired him to cable you, I had added the
words that I would wire my plans later in
the day. This second wire which I sent from
Queenstown did not reach him, although he
waited at his shop until 8 o'clock Saturday
night.
He had decided that if there was any way
of getting directly through to London that
I would come. So he set his clock for 4
A.M., got up, made himself a cup of tea,
and walked from his house to Euston, a dis-
tance of 9 miles — that's some demonstration
of friendship!
He insisted that I come to his house, and
I certainly wanted to do so, for his home
looked better to me than the Hotel Kings-
ley or the Embassy. I took Mr. Walford
back to the Ambassador and introduced
him. On explaining the situation to Mr.
Page he told me by all means to follow my
own wishes.
(56)
THE LUSITANIA'S LAST VOYAGE
We arrived at the home in the suburbs
and Mrs. Walford was there to give me a
hearty welcome. I must have been a "sad
sketch" as I walked into their hospitable
home. I had no hat, for I hadn't spent the
time to get one at Queenstown and I knew
I had one here hi London. I hadn't had a
comb in my hair since I got up Friday noon.
All my worldly possessions were in a small
" brown-paper parcel" tucked under my
arm; so even Ben Franklin didn't have much
on me when he struck Philadelphia in the
old days, as the story goes.
After breakfast they tucked me into bed
with a-big-fat-hot-water-bottle, and after a
few hours' sleep under that hospitable roof
I was quite myself again. A hot tub and
shave put on the final touches.
Monday morning, despite their kind invi-
tation to stay with them as long as I wished, I
felt I ought to take up my abode at the Hotel
(57)
THE LUSITANIA'S LAST VOYAGE
Kingsley and commence picking up the
threads of business, although I knew I should
feel pretty much lost when I had not a
single memorandum "to get on with." My
small leather case containing all my business
papers had gone down with the Lusitania.
Think of a " Lauriat " trying to do business
without a lot of neat little folders sitting
around his desk!
I shall follow with keen interest the
Official Inquiry to be held by Lord Mersey,
for I want to see if these points are brought
out: —
1. WHAT were the instructions from the
Admiralty for the navigation of the ship
and were they carefully followed out?
2. WHY were we not running top speed?
3. WHY were the portholes on decks D
open? Never mind the "why," but I should
like to have the fact established as to
whether they were or were not open.
(58)
THE LUSITANIA'S LAST VOYAGE
4. WHY did Captain Turner and Cap-
tain Anderson give orders to the crew to
"Stop lowering the boats" on the port side
and for the passengers "to get out of the
boats"? That is the exact phraseology they
used. It seemed to me that boats on the
port side should have been lowered at once
as the more the steamer listed the less pos-
sible it would be to clear them.
. There are three suggestions I shall hope to
see put before the Board that are based on the
experiences of the catastrophe. They are : —
1. The thing that impressed me most as
the people rushed back and forth on the
steamer was that more than half of those
who had on life jackets had them on incor-
rectly. I should like to see recommended to
the Board that a law (international, if possi-
ble) be passed, that when a person buys a
steamship ticket for a transatlantic crossing,
no matter for what class, he or she shall
(59)
THE LUSITANIA'S LAST VOYAGE
be obliged to put on a sample life jacket,
which shall always be kept in the main of-
fices of the steamship company and in the
offices of all their agents, and that the pros-
pective passenger shall be obliged to put it
on, fasten it to him, and walk around the
office four or five times until he gets familiar
with the touch of it and knows how to put
it on correctly. It is all very well to hang up
neat little signs in the staterooms telling
passengers how to put them on and showing
where the jackets are, but from what I saw
on the Lusitania I don't believe one person
in fifty follows these suggestions.
Of course I can hear the steamship com-
panies remonstrate and say that this sugges-
tion is inconvenient, impracticable, etc., etc.;
but as long as people cross the ocean there
will be such disasters as the Titanic and the
Empress of Ireland, but we hope never
again such a tragedy as the Lusitania.
(60)
THE LUSITANIA'S LAST VOYAGE
If it is convenient for the prospective
passenger to put on the life jacket, his ticket
should be so stamped with some large
distinctive mark as to show that he has
complied with the law. Those who have not
tried on the life jacket should not have the
ticket stamped; but immediately after leav-
ing port, when the tickets are collected, they
should be examined, and all those passen-
gers who have not complied with the law
shall be looked out by an officer and then
instructed as to where the life jackets are
in the staterooms and how to put them on.
Certainly in this way people would become
familiar with the sight and touch of a life
jacket, and in a disaster, the passenger would
be spared that additional shock that comes
to the stoutest heart when one puts it on
for the first time — plus the existing neces-
sity.
2. I should like to see recommended
(61 )
THE LUSITANIA'S LAST VOYAGE
that large chests of life belts be kept on the
upper decks, for in a catastrophe like that of
last Friday it was impossible for some people
to go below to get life belts. They had
neither the time nor the courage. We could
have helped a lot and saved more if we had
had more life belts at hand that we could
have tied on to the passengers.
3. These collapsible boats should be
opened on the deck during each passage of
the steamer, and it should be assured that
the metal running gear is thoroughly greased
and runs smoothly. There should be some
oars in the boat, for had there been a sea on
when this catastrophe happened, of what
earthly use would this boat have been with-
out an oar with which even to steer? Under
the conditions in which we worked it was
easy enough to get oars, but we never could
have got them if it had been at all rough.
The plans of the Lusitania here reproduced
are from "Engineering" (London) in the issue
for May 14th, 1915.
I think they are the plans originally published
in that magazine when the boat was first put into
commission in 1907. The arrangement and num-
ber of the lifeboats were changed a few years
back and were different from those shown in the
plan. On her last voyage there were eleven on
each side, slung higher to allow space for the
collapsible lifeboats that rested on the deck un-
der the regular lifeboats. Also, this plan does not
show the extra collapsible lifeboats that were
nested out on the after deck. The launch that is
indicated on the plan, I did not see.
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PART II
PART II
THE foregoing is the crude Narrative prac-
tically verbatim as I sent it home to my
people. My first thought was to rewrite it
and embody it in the following, but I prefer
to let it stand as I gave it to the typist in our
London office, reciting the tale to her as the
events, still vivid in my mind, passed men-
tally before me.
In this second part I have tried to round
out the Narrative by adding details which
would answer questions arising from read-
ing Part One.
On boarding the Lusitania on May 1 in
New York I found the usual company of
passengers and many friends to bid them
"bon voyage." I was surprised that access
(65)
THE LUSITANIA'S LAST VOYAGE
to the steamer was allowed so freely. The
two members of my family who accompanied
me were allowed to pass aboard without
question.
NOTICE !
rilRAVELLERS intending to em-
A bark on the Atlantic voyage are
reminded that a state of war exists
between Germany and her allies and
Great Britain and her allies; that
the zone of war includes the waters
adjacent to the British Isles; that,
in accordance with formal notice
given by the Imperial German Gov-
ernment, vessels flying the flag of
Great Britain, or of any of her allies,
are liable to destruction hi those
waters and that travellers sailing
in the war zone on ships of Great
Britain or her allies do so at their
own risk.
IMPERIAL GERMAN EMBASSY.
WASHINGTON, D. C., April 22, 1915.
( 66)
THE LUSITANIA'S LAST VOYAGE
Naturally I saw the notice issued by the
Imperial German Embassy, published in all
of the New York papers of May 1. On the
opposite page I reprint the whole notice issued
by the Embassy in order to correct the errone-
ous impression I find held by many people,
that the Lusitania was specified in it.
It is a coincidence that this notice ap-
peared in some of the New York papers
beside the advertisement of the proposed
sailings of the Cunard Line. Like many
other passengers I gave the notice no serious
thought. No idea of cancelling my trip
occurred to me. I did not sail with a feeling
of defiance towards the Embassy, either for
the notice or for any action that might follow;
but I admit that I did not think any human
being with a drop of red blood in his veins,
called a man, could issue an order to sink a
passenger steamer without at least giving the
women and children a chance to get away.
(67)
THE LUSITANIA'S LAST VOYAGE
True, it was a ship of a belligerent nation and
carried citizens of countries with which Ger-
many was at war, but I could not believe
their policy of "frightfulness" would be
carried to such an extent as events after-
wards proved. The steamer did have in
her cargo some ammunition, but taking all
things into consideration I did not believe
an order would be given to torpedo this
boat without warning, and without an op-
portunity being given to passengers to take
to the boats, and so possibly cause one of
the greatest marine disasters of modern
times. The order is now a proven fact in
history.
We had a pleasant crossing, smooth seas,
with sunshine and very little fog.
I enjoyed roaming about the boat ex-
ceedingly, as I had never before taken pas-
sage on one of the "greyhounds," although
it was my twenty-third crossing. I always
(68)
THE LUSITANIA'S LAST VOYAGE
enjoy the voyage and prefer a smaller and
slower boat; but this year I wanted to make
my business trip as short as possible, and had
the Lusitania gone through at her usual rate
of speed and arrived at Liverpool as sched-
uled, I could have taken up my work the
following Saturday morning.
As the days passed the passengers seemed
to enjoy them more and more, and formed
those acquaintances such as one does OR an
ocean crossing. Each evening, in the smok-
ing room, the pool for the following day's
run was auctioned, and that always makes
for informality and companionship.
Thursday evening the us.ual concert was
given and much enjoyed.
Friday morning early there was some fog,
but I arose at eight as usual and had my sea
bath. As the horn was blowing and the
weather was thick, I returned to my berth
for a few hours' extra snooze. I instructed
(69)
the steward that if he didn't hear from me by
12 o'clock he was to call me, as that would
give me ample time to get ready for lunch
at one.
At noon he came and told me that we had
picked up Cape Clear and had put the clock
one hour and forty minutes ahead to Green-
wich time. I got up and dressed, and was on
deck at about ten minutes to one for a short
stroll before lunch. It was a beautiful day
then, light wind, a smooth sea, and bright
sunshine. I thought to myself that if a Ger-
man submarine really meant business, she
would have to wait weeks for a more ideal
chance than the present weather conditions.
With a flat, unbroken sea, such as that
around us, the periscope of a submarine
could certainly carry a long distance. On the
port side was the good old Irish Coast, and
it seemed to me that we were going up the
old beaten track that ocean liners have taken
( 70)
THE LUSITANIA'S LAST VOYAGE
for the last fifty years. I was surprised that
we were following it, but I was more than
surprised at the slow speed we were making.
There was no use of one asking questions of
the officers, for we all knew they were told
to discreetly hold their tongues.
I went down to lunch at one o'clock and
finished shortly before two.
The portholes along both sides of the
dining saloon were open. I had special
reason to notice this, as my seat was directly
under an electric fan, and several times on
the voyage when the portholes were open and
the fan going the draught was so strong that
I had been obliged to request the steward to
shut off the fan. This was the case this
noon.
My table companion was Lothrop With-
ington. We had a jolly time together and
made plans for seeing each other in London,
as his rooms were near our London office.
(71 )
THE LUSITANIA'S LAST VOYAGE
Poor chap, I wish I had seen him after we
were struck, that I might have given him a
helping hand.
After luncheon I left the saloon, went to
my stateroom and then up on deck and joined
the Hubbards on the port side. Immediately
after the explosion the ship took a sharp
list to the starboard and a decided pitch by
the head. You could feel the two separate
motions very distinctly. It seemed as if
she were going down at once, but then she
stopped suddenly as if the sea had met the
water-tight bulkheads and she seemed to
right herself and even raise her bow a little.
This*gave me a feeling of security, and I
at first thought she would stay afloat. As
soon as the ship found herself I looked over
the rail and made a mental note as to how
far she had rolled out.
From the moment we were struck no
sense of fear or doubt entered my mind but
THE LUSITANIA'S LAST VOYAGE
that I could perfectly well save myself. If
she did sink I could step into the water, and
I was confident that I could paddle round
for several hours until I was rescued. My
experience had been such that a few hours
more or less in the water made no difference
to me, and I didn't care particularly whether
it was a swim in the Irish Sea or Hull Bay.
I spoke to the Hubbards, but when they
showed no inclination to go to their cabin
to get their life jackets I tapped Mr. Hub-
bard on the shoulder to emphasize the fol-
lowing remark, "If you don't care to come,
stay here and I will get them for you." It
did not take me many minutes to go to my
cabin, get several life jackets, which I
strung on my arm, take my small leather
case which contained my business papers,
and return to the spot where I had left the
Hubbards. I wish with all my heart that
they had waited until I came back. If only
(73)
THE LUSITANIA'S LAST VOYAGE
they had . . . ! But I must not write about
the "ifs" of this catastrophe. They would
in themselves make a book larger than the
account of the disaster itself.
I stood there a few moments hoping the
Hubbards would return. I put on to women
all but two of the life jackets, for these I felt
I should keep for a few moments to see if my
friends returned.
Passengers were already crowding on the
deck, running back and forth, and as I
walked aft I saw no officer taking charge of
the lowering of any one lifeboat, but there
were attempts being made by the crew to
lower two or three of the boats. As early
as this in the catastrophe there was con-
fusion, and nothing seemed to be done with
usual ship's discipline.
If the passengers, when they first came on
deck, had found that the officer and the crew
of each lifeboat were at their station, waiting
( 74 )
THE LUSITANIA'S LAST VOYAGE
or taking orders from the bridge, it would
have inspired confidence and saved the
immediate confusion; but there was no such
discipline.
I had walked fore and aft on the deck
once or twice, stopping often to help people
put on their life jackets correctly, when
Captain Turner gave his order not to lower
the boats.
So insistent was Captain Turner that this
order should be carried out that he sent
Captain Anderson, who was on the bridge
at the tune, down along the port side, where
I was standing, to enforce it.
As soon as Captain Turner gave this or-
der, the crew, who were on the deck above
lowering the boats, immediately took a
couple of turns around the cleats and natur-
ally left for parts unknown; at least I did
not see them go back to their posts.
Then Captain Turner went down to the
( 75 )
THE LUSITANIA'S LAST VOYAGE
starboard end of the bridge, and I could
hear him call out to clear away and lower the
boats, meaning those on that side. To me
these two orders have always seemed most
inconsistent.
The incident that stands out most clearly
in my mind up to this time is my meeting
an Italian family, consisting of an aged
woman, probably the grandmother, the
mother, and her three children. They be-
seeched me in their native tongue, but not
a word could I understand. They were
third cabin passengers and had found their
way to deck B in remarkably quick time.
By this time I had given up hope of seeing
the Hubbards again, so I put the two re-
maining life jackets on the two older women
and got another for the oldest child. They
were all calm and sat down on one of the
collapsible lifeboats, quietly awaiting in-
structions as to what to do next. As I look
(76)
THE LUSITANIA'S LAST VOYAGE
back on that family sitting there on the
deck it is one of the most pathetic things I
remember. One felt so helpless. The boats
were not being lowered, and there was abso-
lutely nothing you could do to save a family
like this.
It was then I looked over the side and
made up my mind that the steamer, rolling
out at the angle which she had reached, with
the bow under water, could not float much
longer, so I started on my second trip to
my stateroom.
I tried to go down by the main compan-
ion-way, but it was full of people making
their way up. It was not so crowded but
that I could have forced my way through,
but to have done so would only have added
to the confusion already paramount, so I
went down by the for'ard companion-way.
On my way back from my stateroom I
made up my mind that the boat was going
(77)
THE LUSITANIA'S LAST VOYAGE
to sink. I had thought so before, but I was
confident of it after that second trip down.
The part of the boat where my stateroom
was located was in darkness. The portholes
at the bottom of the cross passages which I
passed were open, and naturally very little
light came through them, as they were only
a few feet from the water and the list of the
steamer had shut out the direct daylight
so there was only the reflection from the
water.
On my return, I did not at first go up the
f or'ard companion-way. I went along the pas-
sage to the mam companion-way, as I knew
I could be of assistance in helping someone
up the stairs. By that time there was a jam.
Many people found difficulty in climbing the
sloping stairs, and so I spoke to several and
led them back along the passage I had just
come through and up the for'ard companion-
way. That at least got them on deck, even
(78)
THE LUSITANIA'S LAST VOYAGE
though I could not do anything for them
after that.
Without thinking, I made my way back
to the spot where I was standing with the
Hubbards when the explosion occurred.
It was curious that I kept coming back to
this part of the deck. I must have returned
there more than a hah* dozen times, led back
instinctively, I suppose, by the hope that I
might find my friends.
It was at this spot that I looked over
the side when she was first struck, and
where I stood each time I wanted to see
how far she had rolled out. A glance for'ard
showed me how far she had sunk by the
head.
As I looked up and down the deck wild
confusion had broken loose. Frantic ef-
forts were at last being made to lower the
lifeboats, but as they had been originally
swung clear of the steamer, the acute list
( 79)
THE LUSITANIA'S LAST VOYAGE
which she had now taken to starboard caused
many of the davits on the port side to swing
inboard so far, that it was humanly impossi-
ble to push out the boats clear of the edge
of the deck. There was nothing more one
could do on the port side to help on, so I
stepped inside of the main entrance, and slid
across to the starboard side.
As I came out I noticed a lifeboat just
getting away. It was one that had swung
on the davits opposite the main entrance.
The water was then almost flush with the
scuppers of deck B. I tried to walk aft on
the starboard side, but there was such infi-
nite confusion that I saw I could be of no
help. Most of the passengers had gone to
that side, and as the bow settled and the
water rose on the deck they naturally
crowded aft, up to the higher part of the
deck. All were doing the best they could,
but there was no discipline or order.
(80)
THE LUSITANIA'S LAST VOYAGE
Personally I didn't care to get into a life-
boat. I was perfectly willing to take my
chance in the water, but as I returned to
the for'ard part of the deck I saw a sight
that simply demanded action on my part.
I found myself opposite the stern of a boat,
into which had climbed about thirty-five
people, principally women and children.
The for'ard davit was about a foot from
the bow, and at the rate the Lusitania was
going down it meant but a few moments
before the bow of the boat would be caught
by the davit, and this whole boatload would
be taken down, or at least thrown violently
into the water.
I judge that this particular boat in the first
rush had been lowered many feet to the
water and as the steamer sank she floated,
and so the distance between the lifeboat
and the davits gradually shortened. The
slack of the ropes had to fall somewhere and
(81 )
THE LUSITANIA'S LAST VOYAGE
as the ropes fouled on themselves in the bow
and the stern of the boat, it convinces me
that there was no way on the steamer.
Certainly one ought to make the attempt
to clear this boat and not let those women
and children be drowned without an effort
to save them. Someone was working on the
bow ropes, so I climbed into the stem and
threw clear my end, but before I had time
to cast off the block it was done for me by a
seaman who had stepped into the boat ap-
parently at the same moment that I had.
My next thought was of the for'ard ropes.
I looked and saw someone struggling to
clear them. As I have written, I think he
was a steward, cutting at them with a knife.
I yelled to him to take the axe. He looked
around a moment and said there was none.
I looked in my end and found none. Then
I stepped up on the seat, planning to go
for'ard to see if I could help. As I straight-
(82)
THE LUSITANIA'S LAST VOYAGE
ened up to get my balance, my back came
in contact with the davit hanging over
the after end. The blow knocked me down
into the bottom of the boat. Then I tried
again, looking out for the davit and step-
ping from one seat to the next. I couldn't
avoid the oars, of which there seemed an
infinite number. I stepped on one which
rolled over. Again I slipped to the bottom
of the boat. When I got up and looked
for'ard I saw it was too late to make a
further attempt, for the end of the davit
had gripped the bow of the boat and had
just begun to press it under.
I turned to the people and told them to
jump. It was their only chance. I begged
them to! One or two men did, and finally
two women who had on life jackets. When
I saw them go I felt that I could be of use to
them, so I stepped over and pushed them
ahead of me as I swam. A short distance
(83)
THE LUSITANIA'S LAST VOYAGE
out I found a third woman. They all three
kept calm, and I was able to get them to put
their hands on each others' shoulders, two
hi front and one behind.
I stopped swimming for a moment, telling
them to wait, for I wished to turn around
and see how near the steamer was to her
final plunge. I felt that there would be
considerable suction, and I wanted to try
and keep the three women out of it.
The steamer had an acute list to starboard,
so as I looked back I could clearly see the
people on deck B, clinging to the rail that
ran along the side of the house. It was im-
possible to stand on the deck unless one had
hold of some stationary object. People were
clinging to one another, so that it seemed as
if they were standing three or four abreast by
the rail. As the steamer sank by the head
and the water rose higher up the deck, those
in front were obliged to release their hold.
(84 )
THE LUSITANIA'S LAST VOYAGE
It was a terrifying sight for the people
back of them, but there were no hysterical
shrieks. The men, women, and children on
that steamer met their end like heroes,
every one of them.
It was at this point that the aerial caught
me and took me down. I couldn't imagine
what was landing on me out of the sky. I
wouldn't have been as much surprised if the
submarine had risen and I had found myself
on her, but to get a bolt from the blue did
surprise me. I shook this off my head and so
got a glimpse of what it was that struck me.
I saw it was one of the aerials, but fortunately
it was the outside one, so I knew the other
was between me and the steamer. As the
three women were out beyond me they were
safe from both aerials. This wire took me rap-
idly under, but I rose before the steamer sank.
As she went under the sea I was not con-
scious of hearing cries; rather it was a long,
(85 )
THE LUSITANIA'S LAST VOYAGE
lingering moan that rose, and which lasted
for many moments after she disappeared.
They who were lost seemed to be calling from
the very depths.
I kept my eyes on the steamer until she
went out of sight. Then the deluge of
wreckage was upon us. That separated me
from the women, and I am not confident that
I got them afterwards into my boat, but I
am quite sure that they must have been
saved. They had every chance.
Just before the steamer sank she seemed to
right herself and go down on quite an even
keel. She settled by the stern, and that is
another reason that convinces me that if
her portholes had been closed she might
have stayed afloat after her bow struck
bottom.
Much to my surprise there was only slight
suction. There were explosions out of the
funnels as the cold water mixed with the
(86)
THE LUSITANIA'S LAST VOYAGE
steam and that added to the horror of the
disaster. The mass of wreckage was tremen-
dous. Aside from the people brought out with
it, there were deck chairs, oars, boxes, and I
can't remember what. I simply know that
one moment one was jammed between large
objects, and the next moment one was under
the water. There were many people around
you who needed assistance, but all one could
do was to push an oar or box or a piece of
wreckage to each to grab. A few moments
after the first rush was over I looked around
to see if I could find a boat. A few yards
away I saw a collapsible lifeboat floating
peacefully around, right side up. I made
good time crossing the intervening space
and was the first man on that boat. A
sailor immediately followed, then G ,
and we three got to work opening it up.
When we got the canvas covering off and
saw no oars in that boat I was, to say the
(87)
THE LUSITANIA'S LAST VOYAGE
least, disgusted with any Board of Trade or
committee of men who would pass a boat
that was worthy to be called one, without
deeming it necessary to have her fitted with
oars. If there had been a sea on we should
have been helpless.
After we got the boat manned and went
back into the wreckage it was simply awful.
We took those whom we could help, but there
were many, many past human assistance.
We loaded our little boat to the full limit of its
capacity and started for the fishing smack.
As we left with our boatload, I looked
around for other boats. There were al-
ready two lifeboats between us and the
fishing smack; one halfway there and the
other about quarter of the way, and there
was also one headed toward Kinsale. There
was a fourth headed west, apparently row-
ing for a streak of smoke one could see on
the horizon. There must have been at least
(88)
two lifeboats that stayed at the scene of the
wreck doing their utmost.
When we reached the fishing smack the
first two lifeboats I have mentioned, had
already arrived and had put then* human
freight aboard. One, in charge of a boat-
swain, with four of the ship's regular crew
rowing, was starting back.
I can't understand why these two life-
boats got away so quickly from the scene of
the disaster. It seems to me that they should
have stayed right there and taken in more
people. There were only about 50 people
on the fishing smack, and so that was all the
two regular lifeboats brought down. They
could have put 75 or 80 people in each one
of those boats in perfect safety, the sea was so
smooth. There were several remaining hours
of daylight in which they could have been
picked up, so there was no need to hurry
away. Aside from the people they could
(89)
THE LUSITANIA'S LAST VOYAGE
have taken into the boat, they could have
been of much assistance in letting others
cling to the sides. There are life lines for
just that purpose.
Nearly all of the people that got aboard the
fishing smack before us were dry, as these
two boats had cleared before the steamer
sank. All of the people on my boat had been
fished out of the ocean.
About one half an hour after we were
aboard the fishing smack another collapsible
boat came alongside and we took these peo-
ple on board.
There were a father and mother and a
little year-old baby on the fishing smack.
They were fortunate in getting away in one
of the lifeboats, and the little chap was one
of the few babies who was saved. I have
seen it stated that of about 150 children
aboard, only about 25 were saved. I can
believe that from what I saw when we
(90)
THE LUSITANIA'S LAST VOYAGE
were back in the wreckage pulling out
people.
The trip up on the Flying Fish was un-
eventful. Many got quite dried off in the
engine room and nearly all regained much
of their normal composure. There were com-
paratively few who were in dire distress.
The illustration opposite this page shows
the lifeboats as I found them in the slip be-
side the Cunard wharf on Saturday morning.
I called the attention of the newspaper men
who had cameras to these boats, and I was
glad to see them take the picture. If they
hadn't done so I should have had it done,
for to me this is a very pretty piece of evi-
dence. The picture reproduced here is taken
from one of the London dailies.
I think it would be well for the Cu-
nard Line to explain how lifeboats that
are supposed to hold people, should be
brought into port carrying so much dunnage.
(91)
Look at the oars and sails that were left in
these boats, occupying space that could have
been better used for carrying human freight!
I climbed through each one of these boats,
and they all showed evidence of having
been used by survivors. You will notice
that some of the boats are stripped of all
extra fittings, and these probably carried
their proper quota of human freight. There
are but five of the boats in this picture; the
sixth was in another slip.
Evidence has been given that the first
torpedo crippled the engines so that it was
impossible to reverse the screws and bring
the steamer to a stop or slow her down to a
point where the captain judged it safe to
lower the boats. All right, if that is the opin-
ion of an experienced seaman I shall not
dispute it; but I should like to have a naval
engineer estimate how much way there could
have been on the steamer, say ten minutes
(92)
THE LUSITANIA'S LAST VOYAGE
after she was struck, even if the engine room
wasn't able to reverse the screws and bring
her to a stop.
The Lusitania was of 32,000 tons dis-
placement. She was going through the water
at about 17 knots an hour. If you sud-
denly shut off that propulsion, giving her a
list to starboard and a rapid settling by the
head, I can't believe she would be ranging
ahead .Tery fast after the first 10 or 12
minutes.
(93)
PART m
PART III
ONE who has read this Narrative cannot
help but being interested in the following ac-
count, taken from the "Frankfurter Zeitung"
of Sunday, May 9, 1915, issued two days
after the tragedy.
I saw several German papers of about that
date, but I selected this as a representative
one. This article is much saner than others
I saw, and I feel gives a fairer idea of what
the German press published at that time.
I print the German text, that those who
can read it may judge for themselves, and
on the opposite page I have given the
English translation.
For the transposition of the original Ger-
man into Roman characters and the trans-
lation into English, I am indebted to my
(97)
THE LUSITANIA'S LAST VOYAGE
friend Ernest F. Langley, Professor of Ro-
mance Languages at the Massachusetts In-
stitute of Technology.
If one refers to the reproduction of the
plan of the ship, he will see the places indi-
cated where the twelve guns were to have
been mounted had the British Government
ever taken the Lusitania for an "auxiliary
cruiser." While this plan was originally pub-
lished when the Lusitania was first launched
in 1906, it was used again at this time with
the position of the guns still showing.
( 98)
EXTRACTS
WITH TRANSLATIONS FROM THE
"FRANKFURTER ZEITUNG"
FRANKFURTER ZEITUNG
Sonntag, 9 Mai 1915. Was haben wir
getan? Ein deutsches Kriegsscliiff hat an
der Kiiste Irlands die "Lusitania" vernich-
tet. Ein gewaltiger Wert, der gegen uns auf
der Wagschale des Feindes lag, ist zerstort.
Viele Millionen an materiellem Gut sind ver-
nichtet, und ein unermessbarer Besitz an
moralischer Kraft und an GefiiHswert eines
Volkes, dessen ganzes Leben auf das Bliihen
seiner Schiffahrt und seines Handels einge-
stellt ist, sank mit dem stolzen Schiff zu
Grunde. Dieses Seevolk ist in seinem Hei-
ligsten getroffen worden. Alle Massregeln
seiner Vorsicht waren umsonst. Die deut-
sche Waffe hat die Schutzwehr durchschnit-
ten. England sieht sich an dieser Stelle
nackt und hilflos und ausserstande, mit dem
( 100 )
Sunday, May 9, 1915. What have we
done? A German war vessel has sunk the
Lusitania off the coast of Ireland. A mighty
asset which lay on the enemy's side of the
scale is destroyed. Property to the value of
many millions is annihilated, and an im-
measurable store of moral power and self-
confidence of a people whose whole life is
centered in the prosperity of its shipping
and commerce sank to the bottom with the
proud vessel. This maritime nation has been
stricken in its Holy of Holies. All measures
dictated by its prudence were in vain. Ger-
many's weapon has cut through its armor.
England sees herself naked and helpless at
this spot and unable to keep pace with her
German opponent. Nothing of hypocrisy or
( 101 )
THE LUSITANIA'S LAST VOYAGE
deutschen Gegner Schritt zu halten. Nichts
von Heuchelei und Kramergeist ! Das Gef iihl
ist echt. Ohnmachtige Wut! Und das ist
es eben, woher uns die Gefahr kam, das ist
im letzten Ende auch der Grund, der uns den
Krieg gebracht hat: England,1 das Volk zur
See, die Weltmacht, ist eingeholt von uns
Jiingeren, und es gibt Dinge, durch die wir
ihm vorangehen. Und weil dies so ist, weil
alles schmahliche Verleumden nichts anderes
als kraftlose Schlage zur Abwehr sind,
Kriegswaffen Englands, nicht von anderer
Art als das sinnlose Einsperren der Zivilge-.
fangenen, als die Vergeltungswut gegen die
gefangenen U-Bootsleute — darum ist uns
dies alles so veraehtlich und reizt den Zorn
unseres Volkes.
Die "Lusitania" trug Passagiere! Wir
batten es wahrhaftig unendlich lieber ge-
1 Italics are used in the above text where the original Ger-
man type emphasizes by spacing.
( 102 )
THE LUSITANIA'S LAST VOYAGE
shopkeeper-spirit about it! The feeling is
genuine. Impotent rage ! And that was the
very thing which caused our danger, and,
in the last analysis, that also was the reason
why war was brought upon us. England,1
the nation of sailors, the world power, is
overtaken by us juniors, and things exist
which enable us to outstrip her. And be-
cause this is so, because all her despicable
calumny is nothing else than impotent blows
to defend herself, typical English weapons,
exactly on a par with the senseless confine-
ment of civilians and the fierce reprisals upon,
the captured submarine crews — because this
is so, the whole matter is contemptible in
our eyes and provokes the anger of our
people.
The Lusitania carried passengers! In
truth we should have been infinitely better
1 Italics are used in the translations where the original
German text emphasizes by spacing,
( 103 )
THE LUSITANIA'S LAST VOYAGE
sehen, wenn das Schiff, das schon seit vielen
Monaten dem Feind von Nutzen ist und uns
Schaden bringt, hatte vernichtet werden
kb'nnen, ohne dass diese Katastrophe fiir
seine Fahrgaste hatte kommen miissen.
Aber miissen wir uns, denen der Feind das
Messer in die Kehle stossen will, wir, deren
Bezwingung durch den Hunger und den
Mangel an Kriegsgerat so ziemlich alle Welt
mit Ruhe als ein unvermeidliches Schick-
sal mitansehen wiirde, miissen wir uns nicht
mit aller Kraft und mit alien Mitteln, die
der deutsche Geist erfinden kann und die
die Ehre des deutschen Volkes als achtbare
Waff en anerkennt, gegen diese lurch tbare
Gefahr wehren, die uns noch immer bedroht?
Haben nicht gerade sie den Kampf bis aufs
Messer gepredigt und durch ihre Blockade
eroffnet, die jetzt zetern, weil die deutschen
Waff en die besseren sind? Oder haben jene
ein Recht, uns anzuklagen, die ihre Ange-
( 104 )
THE LUSITANIA'S LAST VOYAGE
pleased if the ship, which for many months
past has been of aid to the enemy and has
done us harm, could have been destroyed
without the necessity of this catastrophe be-
falling its passengers. But must we not, we
whose throat the enemy is seeking to cut, we
whose defeat by hunger and by lack of war
material nearly every one would witness
complacently as an unavoidable fate, must
we not defend ourselves from this dreadful
danger, which still threatens us, with all our
might and with all the means that the Ger-
man spirit can invent and which the honor
of the German people recognizes as legitimate
weapons? Were not those who now raise
outcries because the German weapons are
better than their own the very ones who pro-
claimed war to the knife and opened it with
their blockade? Or have they a right to
accuse us, those who allowed their friends
and relatives to entrust themselves to a ship
( 105 )
THE LUSITANIA'S LAST VOYAGE
horigen sich einem Schiff anvertrauen liessen,
dessen Vernichtung mit aller Klarheit zuvor
angekiindigt war? Auf ein Schiff, das wie
ein Kreuzer, starker als irgend ein deutscher
geschiitzter Kreuzer, mit zwolf 15 Zenti-
meter-Geschiitzen ausgeriistet war? Sie ha-
ben uns, als wir warnten, verspottet. Sie
mogen sich an jene wenden, die das Verbre-
chen begangen haben, zur Fahrt auf einem
Kriegsschiff Fahrgaste zu laden.
Berlin, 8. Mai (Priv.-Tel. Ctr. Bin.). Der
Eindruck, den die Vernichtung der" Lusitania "
macht, wird weit iiber Deutschlands und
Englands Grenzen hinausreichen, und man
kann ohne weiteres annehmen, dass sich auch
neutrale Stimmen finden werden, die eifernd
den Untergang zahlreicher Passagiere be-
klagen. Gewiss, jedes Menschenleben ist
wertvoll und sein Verlust bedauerlich,
aber an den Massnahmen und Kampf-
formen dieses Weltkrieges gemessen, an den
(~106 )
THE LUSITANIA'S LAST VOYAGE
whose destruction was announced with per-
fect clearness in advance, to a ship equipped
like a cruiser, more powerfully than any
German protected cruiser, with twelve 15
centimeter guns? They mocked at us when
we gave warning. Let them turn to those
who committed the crime of allowing pas-
sengers to travel on a war vessel.
Berlin, May 8. The impression created
by the sinking of the Lusitania will extend
far beyond the borders of Germany and Eng-
land, and we may at once assume that neutral
voices also will arise to deeply deplore the
loss of a large number of passengers. Every
human life is, of course, valuable, and its
loss deplorable, but, measured by the
methods of this world war, by the methods
introduced by our enemies, forcing us to re-
taliatory measures in self-defence, the death
of non-combatants is a matter of no conse-
quence. The standards observed among
( 107 )
THE LUSITANIA'S LAST VOYAGE
Formen, die unsere Feinde eingefiihrt und
durch sie uns zur Gegenwehr gezwungen
haben, kommt es auf den Tod von Nicht-
kampfern nicht mehr an. Die Massstabe,
die unter zivilisierten Volkern im Frieden
galten, sind zerstort worden, und wer uns
mil den Opfern der "Lusitania" kommt, der
soil sich erst legitimieren und uns die Frage
beantworten, ob er gegeifert und gejammert
hat, als russische Heere auf dem Boden Ost-
preussens gebrannt, gemordet und geschdndet
haben, kaltbliitig und bewusst gegen eine
friedlicheBevolkerung, gegen Manner, Frauen
und Kinder. Das war so gutes Blut, wie
nur irgend eines, das in englischen Schiffen
auf dem Wasser schwimmt. Und wer da
klagt und Zweifel hegt an der Berechtigung
unserer Kampfesfiihrung, den fragen wir,
wie er tiber Englands Aushungerungskrieg
gegen Deutschland denkt, und ob er uns viel-
leicht zumutet, uns wehrlos aushungern zu
( 108 )
THE LUSITANIA'S LAST VOYAGE
civilized nations in times of peace have been
destroyed, and any one reproaching us for
the lives sacrificed on the Lusitania should
first justify himself and answer for us
the question whether he frothed and
fumed when Russian armies on East
Prussian soil coolly and deliberately burned,
murdered and committed outrage upon a
peaceful population, men, women and
children? That blood was as good as any
sailing on the ocean in English ships. And
if anyone complains and feels doubts about
the justification of our war methods, we shall
ask him what he thinks about England's
war of starvation against Germany, and
whether he imagines perhaps that it is our
purpose to allow ourselves to be starved to
submission without acting in self-defence?
And we shall also ask him what he thinks
about the shipment of thousands of millions
worth of arms and munitions from America,
( 109 )
THE LUSITANIA'S LAST VOYAGE
lassen. Und den fragen wir, wie er iiber die
Milliardenlieferungen von Waff en und Muni-
tion aus Amerika denkt, diese Mithilfe,
durch die allein den Englandern und Fran-
zosen seit Monaten uberhaupt die Fort-
fiihrung des Krieges ermoglicht worden ist.
Der nun versenkte Riesendampfer hat er-
wiesenermassen grosse Mengen von Kriegs-
material und Munition an Bord gehabt. Er
war ausserdem ein feindliches Kriegsschiff,
denn er war stark armiert. Er war ein Hilfs-
Jcreuzer. Und zum Dritten fallt ins Gewicht:
keine Warnung ist unterblieben, die geeignet
war, zu verhindern, dass Passagiere die ge-
wagte Fahrt auf diesem Schiffe unternahmen.
Unser Botschafter in Washington hat in
amerikanischen Blattern offiziell vor dieser
Fahrt gewarnt. Nur Spott und Hohn in der
angesehensten englischen Presse ist die Ant-
wort gewesen. Die Besitzer der "Lusi-
tania" haben vielleicht geglaubt, dass diese
( HO)
THE LUSITANIA'S LAST VOYAGE
an assistance by which alone, generally
speaking, during the past months, the con-
tinued participation in the war has been
made possible for the English and French.
The huge steamer now at the bottom of the
ocean had, as has been proved, a great
quantity of war material and munitions on
board. She was moreover an enemy's war
vessel, for she was heavily armed. She was
an auxiliary cruiser. And thirdly it must be
considered that no warning calculated to
prevent passengers undertaking the perilous
voyage on this vessel was neglected. Our
ambassador at Washington gave official
warning about this voyage in the American
newspapers. Nothing but mockery and
scorn was the answer in the most highly
respected English press. The owners of the
Lusitania believed, perhaps, that these pas-
sengers would form a protection for the
contraband and the lucrative shipment of
( 111 )
THE LUSITANIA'S LAST VOYAGE
Passagiere ein Schutz fiir die Kontrebande,
fur die lohnende Waffenlieferung, die an
ihrem Bord waren, bilden wiirden. Die
"Deutsche Tageszeitung" hat recht, wenn
sie sagt: "Die an Bord der 'Lusitania* un-
tergegangenen Passagiere sind, wenn man
das Ding beim rechten Namen nennen will,
ein Opfer grossbritannischer Frivolitat und
Habsucht."
THE LUSITANIA'S LAST VOYAGE
arms which were on board. The Deutsche
Tageszeitung is right in saying: "The pas-
sengers who went down with the Lusitania
are, if we wish to call things by their right
names, a sacrifice to Great Britain's frivolity
and avarice."
PART IV
PART IV
I WROTE parts I and II before reading a
word of the Official Inquiry held by Lord
Mersey and his Assessors, or even the
meagre newspaper accounts of the investiga-
tion that were published in the London
papers while I was there. I wished to write
with an open mind and did not want to
know a word of the Court's Findings until
I had finished mine.
I held my own little Court of Inquiry,
with my own eyes and brain offering the
evidence. My findings as written in the
first two parts are as diametrically opposite
from those of Lord Mersey's Court as they
well could be. I have printed mine in full
and so I now do the same to his.
( 117)
LOSS OF THE STEAMSHIP
"LUSITANIA"
REPORT of a Formal Investigation into the
circumstances attending the foundering on
the 7th of May, 1915, of the British
Steamship "Lusitania" of Liverpool,
after being torpedoed off the Old Head
of Kinsale, Ireland.
REPORT OF THE COURT
THE Court, having carefully enquired into
the circumstances of the above mentioned
disaster, finds, that the loss of the said ship
and lives was due to damage caused to the
said ship by torpedoes fired by a submarine
of German nationality whereby the ship
sank.
In the opinion of the Court the act was
done not merely with the intention of sink-
ing the ship, but also with the intention of
destroying the lives of the people on board.
Dated this seventeenth day of July, 1915.
MERSEY,
Wreck Commissioner.
We concur in the above Report,
F. S. INGLEFIELD
H. J. HEARN
_. _ Assessors.
DAVID DA VIES
JOHN SPEDDING
( 121 )
THE LUSITANIA'S LAST VOYAGE
INTRODUCTION
On the 18th of May, 1915, the Board of
Trade required that a Formal Investigation
of the circumstances attending the loss of
the " Lusitania " should be held, and the
Court accordingly commenced to sit on the
15th of June.
There were six sittings, some of which
were public and some of which were in
camera. Thirty-six witnesses were exam-
ined, and a number of documents were
produced.
THE SHIP
The "Lusitania " was a Turbine steamship
built by John Brown & Co., of Clydebank,
in 1907, for the Cunard Steamship Company.
She was built under Admiralty Survey and
in accordance with Admiralty requirements,
and was classed 100 A.I. at Lloyd's. Her
length was 755 feet, her beam 88 feet, and her
THE LUSITANIA'S LAST VOYAGE
depth 60 feet 4 in. Her tonnage was 30,395
gross and 12,611 net. Her engines were of
68,000 h. p. and her speed 24^/2 to 25 knots.
She had 23 double-ended and two single-
ended boilers situated in four boiler-rooms.
The ship was divided transversely by
eleven principal bulkheads into twelve sec-
tions.
The two forward bulkheads were collision
bulkheads without doors. The remaining
bulkheads had watertight doors cut in them
which were closed by hand. In places where
it was necessary to have the doors open for
working the ship they could be closed by
hydraulic pressure from the bridge. A longi-
tudinal bulkhead separated the side coal
bunkers from the boiler-room and engine-
rooms on each side of the ship.
The "Lusitania" was a passenger as well as
an emigrant ship as defined by the Merchant
Shipping Acts. She fulfilled all the require-
( 123 )
THE LUSITANIA'S LAST VOYAGE
ments of the law in this connection and had
obtained all necessary certificates.
She had accommodation on board for
3,000 persons (including the crew).
The Life-Boats and Life-Saving Appliances
The ship was provided with boat accom-
modation for 2,605 persons. The number
of persons on board on the voyage in ques-
tion was 1,959.
The number of boats was 48. Twenty-two
of these were ordinary life-boats hanging from
davits — eleven on each side of the boat deck.
These had a total carrying capacity of 1,323.
The remainder (26) were collapsible boats,
with a total carrying capacity of 1,282.
Eighteen of these collapsible boats were
stowed under eighteen of the life-boats.
The remaining eight were stowed four on
each side of the ship abaft the life-boats.
In addition the ship was provided with
( 124 )
THE LUSITANIA'S LAST VOYAGE
2,325 life-jackets (125 of which were for
children) and 35 life-buoys. All these were
conveniently distributed on board.
The boats, the life-jackets and the life-
buoys were inspected at Liverpool on the
17th of March, 1915, by the resident Board of
Trade Surveyor, and again on the 15th of
April, 1915, by the Board of Trade Emigra-
tion Officer. Both these gentlemen were
called before me and satisfied me that the
condition of the different appliances was hi
every way satisfactory.
The boats were also examined by the
ship's carpenter at New York on the com-
mencement of the homeward voyage on the
1st of May and found to be in good order.
The Captain, the Officers and the Crew
The Captain of the ship, Mr. William
Thomas Turner, had been in the service of
the Cunard Company since 1883. He had
( 125 )
THE LUSITANIA'S LAST VOYAGE
occupied the position of Commander since
1903, and had held an Extra Master's Cer-
tificate since 1907. He was called before me
and gave his evidence truthfully and well.
The " Lusitania " carried an additional Captain
named Anderson, whose duty it was to assist
in the care and navigation of the ship. He
was unfortunately drowned when the ship
went down, and I can only judge of his
capacity, by the accounts given to me of the
work he did. Several of the officers gave their
evidence before me and gave it well. I am
quite satisfied that the two Captains and the
officers were competent men, and that they
did then* duty. Captain Turner remained on
the bridge till he was swept into the sea and
Captain Anderson was working on the deck
until he went overboard and was drowned.
It appears that since the commencement
of the war the Cunard Company has lost all
its Royal Naval Reserve and Fleet Reserve
( 126 )
THE LUSITANIA'S LAST VOYAGE
men, and the managers have had to take on
the best men they could get and to train
them as well as might be in the time at their
disposal. In connection with this training
prizes have been given by the Company to
induce the crews to make themselves pro-
ficient in handling the boats, and the efforts
in this direction seem to have been successful
in the case of the " Lusitania's " crew. Mr.
Arthur Jones, the First Officer, described the
crew on this voyage as well able to handle
the boats, and testified to their carrying out
the orders given to them in a capable man-
ner. One of the crew, Leslie N. Morton,
who at the time the ship was torpedoed was
an extra look-out on the starboard side of
the forecastle head, deserves a special word
of commendation. He had been shipped in
New York. He was only 18 years of age,
but he seems to have exhibited great courage,
self-possession and resource. He was the
( 127 )
THE LUSITANIA'S LAST VOYAGE
first to observe the approach of the two tor-
pedoes, and before they touched the ship he
had reported them to the bridge by means
of the megaphone, calling out "Torpedoes
coming on the starboard side." When the
torpoedoes struck the ship, Morton was
knocked off his feet, but, recovering him-
self quickly, he went at once to the boats on
the starboard side and assisted in filling and
lowering several of them. Having done all
that could be done on board, he had, as he
expresses it, "to swim for it." In the water
he managed to get hold of a floating col-
lapsible life-boat and, with the assistance of
another member of the crew named Parry,
he ripped the canvas cover off it, boarded it,
and succeeded in drawing into it fifty or
sixty passengers. He and Parry rowed the
life-boat some miles to a fishing smack, and,
having put the rescued passengers on board
the smack, they re-entered the life-boat and
( 128 )
THE LUSITANIA'S LAST VOYAGE
succeeded in rescuing twenty or thirty more
people. This boy, with his mate Parry, was
instrumental in saving nearly one hundred
lives. He has cause for being proud of the
work he did. Morton had a good opportunity
of judging how the crew performed their
duties in the short time which elapsed be-
tween the explosion of the torpedoes and the
foundering of the ship. He saw the crew
helping the women and children into the
boats; he saw them distributing life-belts to
the passengers. He heard the officers giving
orders and he observed that the crew were
obeying the orders properly.
Some of the passengers were called, and
they confirm this evidence. They speak in
terms of the highest praise of the exertions
made by the crew.
No doubt there were mishaps in handling
the ropes of the boats and in other such
matters, but there was, in my opinion, no
( 129 )
THE LUSITANIA'S LAST VOYAGE
incompetence or neglect, and I am satisfied
that the crew behaved well throughout, and
worked with skill and judgment. Many more
than half their number lost their lives.
The total crew consisted of 702, made up
of 77 in the Deck Department, 314 in the
Engineering Department, 306 in the Stew-
ards' Department and of 5 musicians. Of
these, 677 were males and 25 were females.
Of the males, 397 were lost, and of the females,
16, making the total number lost, 413. Of
the males 280 were saved, and of the females,
9, making the total number saved, 289.
I find that the conduct of the masters, the
officers and the crew was satisfactory. They
did their best in difficult and perilous cir-
cumstances and their best was good.
The Passengers.
The number of passengers on board the
" Lusitania " when she sailed was 1,257, con-
( 130 )
THE LUSITANIA'S LAST VOYAGE
sisting of 290 saloon, 600 second-cabin, and
367 third-cabin passengers.
Of these, 944 were British and Canadian,
159 were American, and the remainder were
of seventeen other nationalities. Of the
British and Canadian 584 perished. Of
the American 124 perished, and of the
remainder 77 perished. The total number
lost was 785, and the total number saved
was 472.
The 1,257 passengers were made up of
688 adult males, 440 adult females, 51
male children, 39 female children, and 39
infants. Of the 688 adult males, 421 were
lost and 267 were saved. Of the 440 adult
females, 270 were lost and 170 were saved.
Of the 51 male children, 33 were lost and 18
were saved. Of the 39 female children, 26
were lost and 13 were saved. Of the 39
infants, 35 were lost and 4 were saved.
Many of the women and children among
( 131 )
THE LUSITANIA'S LAST VOYAGE
those lost died from exhaustion after immer-
sion in the water.
I can speak very well of the conduct of the
passengers after the striking of the ship.
There was little or no panic at first, although
later on, when the steerage passengers came
on to the boat deck in what one witness
described as "a swarm," there appears to
have been something approaching a panic.
Some of the passengers attempted to assist
in launching the boats and, in my opinion,
did more harm than good. It is, however,
quite impossible to impute any blame to
them. They were all working for the best.
The Cargo
The cargo was a general cargo of the or-
dinary kind, but part of it consisted of a
number of cases of cartridges (about 5,000).
This ammunition was entered in the manifest.
It was stowed well forward in the ship on
( 132 )
THE LUSITANIA'S LAST VOYAGE
the orlop and lower decks and about 50
yards away from where the torpedoes struck
the ship. There was no other explosive on
board.
The Ship Unarmed
It has been said by the German Govern-
ment that the " Lusitania" was equipped with
masked guns, that she was supplied with
trained gunners, with special ammunition,
that she was transporting Canadian troops,
and that she was violating the laws of the
United States. These statements are un-
true; they are nothing but baseless inven-
tions, and they serve only to condemn the
persons who make use of them. The steamer
carried no masked guns nor trained gunners,
or special ammunition, nor was she trans-
porting troops, or violating any laws of the
United States.
THE LUSITANIA'S LAST VOYAGE
THE VOYAGE
The Departure from New York
The "Lusitania" left New York at noon on
the 1st of May, 1915. I am told that before
she sailed notices were published in New
York by the German authorities that the
ship would be attacked by German sub-
marines, and people were warned not to take
passage in her. I mention this matter not as
affecting the present enquiry but because I
believe it is relied upon as excusing hi some
way the subsequent killing of the passengers
and crew on board the ship. In my view, so
far from affording any excuse the threats
serve only to aggravate the crime by making
it plain that the intention to commit it was
deliberately formed and the crime itself
planned before the ship sailed. Unfor-
tunately the threats were not regarded as
serious by the people intended to be affected
( 134 )
THE LUSITANIA'S LAST VOYAGE
by them. They apparently thought it im-
possible that such an atrocity as the de-
struction of their lives could be in the con-
templation of the German Government. But
they were mistaken, and the ship sailed.
i
The Ship's Speed
It appears that a question had arisen in
the office of the Cunard Company shortly
after the war broke out as to whether the
transatlantic traffic would be sufficient to
justify the Company in running their two big
and expensive ships — the " Lusitania " and
the "Mauretania." The conclusion arrived at
was that one of the two (the " Lusitania ")
could be run once a month if the boiler power
were reduced by one-fourth. The saving in
coal and labour resulting from this reduc-
tion would, it was thought, enable the Com-
pany to avoid loss though not to make a
profit. Accordingly six of the "Lusitania's"
( 135 )
THE LUSITANIA'S LAST VOYAGE
boilers were closed and the ship began to
run in these conditions in November, 1914.
She had made five round voyages in this
way before the voyage in question in this
enquiry. The effect of the closing of the
six boilers was to reduce the attainable
speed from 243^ to 21 knots. But this re-
duction still left the "Lusitania" a consider-
ably faster ship than any other steamer ply-
ing across the Atlantic. In my opinion this
reduction of the steamer's speed was of no
significance and was proper in the circum-
stances.
THE TORPEDOING OF THE SHIP
By the 7th of May the " Lusitania " had
entered what is called the "Danger Zone,"
that is to say, she had reached the waters in
which enemy submarines might be expected.
The Captain had therefore taken precautions.
He had ordered all the life-boats under davits
( 136 )
THE LUSITANIA'S LAST VOYAGE
to be swung out. He had ordered all bulk-
head doors to be closed except such as were
required to be kept open in order to work the
ship. These orders had been carried out.
The portholes were also closed. The lookout
on the ship was doubled — two men being
sent to the crow's nest and two to the eyes
of the ship. Two officers were on the bridge
and a quartermaster was on either side with
instructions to look out for submarines.
Orders were also sent to the engine-room
between noon and two P.M. of the 7th to
keep the steam pressure very high in case of
emergency and to give the vessel all possible
speed if the telephone from the bridge should
ring.
Up to 8 A.M. on the morning of the 7th
the speed on the voyage had been main-
tained at 21 knots. At 8 A.M. the speed was
reduced to 18 knots. The object of this re-
duction was to secure the ship's arrival out-
( 137 )
THE LUSITANIA'S LAST VOYAGE
side the bar at Liverpool at about 4 o'clock
on the morning of the 8th, when the tide
would serve to enable her to cross the bar
into the Mersey at early dawn. Shortly
after this alteration of the speed a fog came
on and the speed was further reduced for a
time to 15 knots. A little before noon the
fog lifted and the speed was restored to 18
knots, from which it was never subsequently
changed. At this time land was sighted
about two points abaft the beam, which
the Captain took to be Brow Head; he
could not, however, identify it with sufficient
certainty to enable him to fix the position
of his ship upon the chart. He therefore kept
his ship on her course, which was S. 87 E.
and about parallel with the land until 12:40,
when, in order to make a better landfall he
altered his course to N. 67 E. This brought
him closer to the land, and he sighted the
Old Head of Kinsale. He then (at 1:40
( 138 )
THE LUSITANIA'S LAST VOYAGE
P.M.) altered his course back to S. 87° E.,
and having steadied his ship on that course
began (at 1 :50) to take a four-point bearing.
This operation, which I am advised would
occupy 30 or 40 minutes, was in process at
the time when the ship was torpedoed, as
hereafter described.
At 2 P.M. the passengers were finishing
their mid-day meal.
At 2:10 P.M., when ten to fifteen miles off
the Old Head of Kinsale, the weather being
then clear and the sea smooth, the Captain,
who was on the port side of the lower bridge,
heard the call, "There is a torpedo coming,
sir," given by the second officer. He looked
to starboard and then saw a streak of foam
in the wake of a torpedo travelling towards
his ship. Immediately afterwards the " Lusi-
tania" was struck on the starboard side some-
where between the third and fourth funnels.
The blow broke number 5 life-boat to splinters.
( 139 )
THE LUSITANIA'S LAST VOYAGE
A second torpedo was fired immediately
afterwards, which also struck the ship on
the starboard side. The two torpedoes
struck the ship almost simultaneously.
Both these torpedoes were discharged by
a German submarine from a distance va-
riously estimated at from two to five hun-
dred yards. No warning of any kind was
given. It is also in evidence that shortly
afterwards a torpedo from another sub-
marine was fired on the port side of the
" Lusitania." This torpedo did not strike the
ship, and the circumstance is only men-
tioned for the purpose of showing that per-
haps more than one submarine was taking
part in the attack.
The " Lusitania " on being struck took a
heavy list to starboard and in less than
twenty minutes she sank in deep water.
Eleven hundred and ninety-eight men,
women, and children were drowned.
( 140 )
THE LUSITANIA'S LAST VOYAGE
Sir Edward Carson, when opening the
case, described the course adopted by the
German Government in directing this at-
tack as "contrary to International Law and
the usages of war," and as constituting,
according to the law of all civilized countries,
" a deliberate attempt to murder the pas-
sengers on board the ship.'* This statement
is, in my opinion, true, and it is made in
language not a whit too strong for the oc-
casion. The defenceless creatures on board,
made up of harmless men and women, and of
helpless children, were done to death by the
crew of the German submarine acting under
the directions of the officials of the German
Government. In the questions submitted to
me by the Board of Trade I am asked, "What
was the cause of the loss of life? " The answer
is plain. The effective cause of the loss of
life was the attack made against the ship by
those on board the submarine. It was a
(141)
THE LUSITANIA'S LAST VOYAGE
murderous attack because made with a de-
liberate and wholly unjustifiable intention
of killing the people on board. German
authorities on the laws of war at sea them-
selves establish beyond all doubt that though
in some cases the destruction of an enemy
trader may be permissible there is always
an obligation first to secure the safety of the
lives of those on board. The guilt of the
persons concerned in the present case is con-
firmed by the vain excuses which have been
put forward on their behalf by the German
Government as before mentioned.
One witness, who described himself as a
French subject from the vicinity of Switzer-
land, and who was in the second-class dining-
room in the after part of the ship at the time
of the explosion, stated that the nature of
the explosion was "similar to the rattling of
a maxim gun for a short period," and sug-
gested that this noise disclosed the "secret "
.( 142 )
THE LUSITANIA'S LAST VOYAGE
existence of some ammunition. The sound,
he said, came from underneath the whole
floor. I did not believe this gentleman.
His demeanour was very unsatisfactory.
There was no confirmation of his story, and
it appeared that he had threatened the
Cunard Company that if they did not make
him some immediate allowance on account
of a claim which he was putting forward
for compensation, he would have the un-
pleasant duty of making his claim in public,
and, in so doing, of producing "evidence
which will not be to the credit either of your
Company or of the Admiralty." The Com-
pany had not complied with his request.
It may be worth while noting that Leith,
the Marconi operator, was also in the second-
class dining-saloon at the time of the ex-
plosion. He speaks of but one explosion.
In my opinion there was no explosion of any
part of the cargo.
( 143)
THE LUSITANIA'S LAST VOYAGE
Orders Given and Work Done after the
Torpedoing
The Captain was on the bridge at the
tune his ship was struck, and he remained
there giving orders until the ship foundered.
His first order was to lower all boats to the
rail. This order was obeyed as far as it
possibly could be. He then called out,
"Women and children first." The order
was then given to hard-a-starboard the
helm with a view to heading towards the
land, and orders were telegraphed to the
engine-room. The orders given to the en-
gine-room are difficult to follow and there is
obvious confusion about them. It is not,
however, important to consider them, for the
engines were put out of commission almost
at once by the inrush of water and ceased
working, and the lights in the engine-room
were blown out.
Leith, the Marconi operator, immediately
( 144 )
THE LUSITANIA'S LAST VOYAGE
sent out an S. 0. S. signal, and, later on,
another message, " Come at once, big list, 10
miles south Head Old Kinsale." These mes-
sages were repeated continuously and were
acknowledged. At first, the messages were
sent out by the power supplied from the
ship's dynamo; but in three or four minutes
this power gave out, and the messages were
sent out by means of the emergency appara-
tus in the wireless cabin.
All the collapsible boats were loosened
from their lashings and freed so that they
could float when the ship sank.
The Launching of the Life-Boats
Complaints were made by some of the
witnesses about the manner in which the boats
were launched and about their leaky condi-
tion when in the water. I do not question
the good faith of these witnesses, but I
think their complaints were ill-founded.
( 145 )
THE LUSITANIA'S LAST VOYAGE
Three difficulties presented themselves in
connection with the launching of the boats.
First, the time was very short: only twenty
minutes elapsed between the first alarm and
the sinking of the ship. Secondly, the ship
was under way the whole time: the engines
were put out of commission almost at once,
so that the way could not be taken off.
Thirdly, the ship instantly took a great list
to starboard, which made it impossible to
launch the port side boats properly and ren-
dered it very difficult for the passengers to get
into the starboard boats. The port side
boats were thrown inboard and the starboard
boats inconveniently far outboard.
In addition to these difficulties there were
the well-meant but probably disastrous at-
tempts of the frightened passengers to assist
in the launching operations. Attempts were
made by the passengers to push some of the
boats on the port side off the ship and to
( 146)
THE LUSITANIA'S LAST VOYAGE
get them to the water. Some of these boats
caught on the rail, and capsized. One or
two did, however, reach the water, but I am
satisfied that they were seriously damaged in
the operation. They were lowered a dis-
tance of 60 feet or more with people hi them,
and must have been fouling the side of the
ship the whole tune. In one case the stern
post was wrenched away. The result was
that these boats leaked when they reached
the water. Captain Anderson was superin-
tending the launching operations, and, in my
opinion, did the best that could be done in
the circumstances. Many boats were low-
ered on the starboard side, and there is
no satisfactory evidence that any of them
leaked.
There were doubtless some accidents in
the handling of the ropes, but it is impossible
to impute negligence or incompetence in
connection with them.
( 147 )
'THE LUSITANIA'S LAST VOYAGE
The conclusion at which I arrive is that the
boats were in good order at the moment of
the explosion and that the launch ing was
carried out as well as the short time, the
moving ship and the serious list would allow.
Both the Captain and Mr. Jones, the First
Officer, hi their evidence state that everything
was done that was possible to get the boats
out and to save lives, and this I believe to
be true.
THE NAVIGATION OF THE SHIP
At the request of the Attorney-General
part of the evidence in the Enquiry was
taken in camera. This course was adopted
in the public interest. The evidence hi ques-
tion dealt, firstly, with certain advice given
by the Admiralty to navigators generally
with reference to precautions to be taken
for the purpose of avoiding submarine at-
tacks; and secondly, with information fur-
( 148 )
THE LUSITANIA'S LAST VOYAGE
nished by the Admiralty to ^Captain Turner
individually of submarine dangers likely to
be encountered by him in the voyage of
the " Lusitania." It would defeat the object
which the Attorney-General had hi view if
I were to discuss these matters in detail in
my report; and I do not propose to do so.
But it was made abundantly plain to me
that the Admiralty had devoted the most
anxious care and thought to the questions
arising out of the submarine peril, and that
they had diligently collected all available
information likely to affect the voyage of the
" Lusitania" in this connection. I donotknow
who the officials were to whom these duties
were entrusted, but they deserve the highest
praise for the way hi which they did their work.
Captain Turner was fully advised as to
the means which in the view of the Admiralty
were best calculated to avert the perils he
was likely to encounter, and hi considering
( 149 )
THE LUSITANIA'S LAST VOYAGE
the question whether he is to blame for the
catastrophe in which his voyage ended I have
to bear this circumstance in mind. It is
certain that in some respects Captain Turner
did not follow the advice given to him. It
may be (though I seriously doubt it) that
had he done so his ship would have reached
Liverpool in safety. But the question re-
mains, was his conduct the conduct of a
negligent or of an incompetent man. On
this question I have sought the guidance of
my assessors, who have rendered me in-
valuable assistance, and the conclusion at
which I have arrived is that blame ought not
to be imputed to the Captain. The advice
given to him, although meant for his most
serious and careful consideration, was not
intended to deprive him of the right to
exercise his skilled judgment in the difficult
questions that might arise from time to time
in the navigation of his ship. His omission
( 150 )
THE LUSITANIA'S LAST VOYAGE
to follow the advice in all respects cannot
fairly be attributed either to negligence or
incompetence.
He exercised his judgment for the best.
It was the judgment of a skilled and ex-
perienced man, and although others might
have acted differently and perhaps more suc-
cessfully, he ought not, in my opinion, to be
blamed.
The whole blame for the cruel destruction
of life in this catastrophe must rest solely
with those who plotted and with those who
committed the crime.
• •.••••
The above is called the "Annex" to the
"Finding of the Court." This latter I do
not reprint for it consists only of 21 ques-
tions, the answers to which are found in the
"Annex."
A notice in "The Daily Telegraph"
(London) of May 12, announced that
( 151 )
THE LUSITANIA'S LAST VOYAGE
"The Board of Trade have ordered a formal
investigation into the circumstances attend-
ing the loss of the S.S. ' Lusitania,' and they
desire to invite passengers of the * Lusitania '
who now are, or will shortly be in or near
London, and who are able to supply evi-
dence likely to be of value for the Inquiry,
to communicate at once, either personally or
by letter or telegram, to the Solicitor of
the Board of Trade, at the Hotel Metropole,
Northumberland Avenue, Charing-Cross,
W. C.; with a view to statements being
taken from them at the said address, be-
tween the hours of eleven A.M. and six P.M.
during the week commencing Wednesday,
the 12th instant, and ending, and including,
Tuesday the 18th instant.
" The Inquiry will be conducted by the
Law Officers, who may be relied upon to see
that all material points consistent with the
public interest will be dealt with."
( 152)
THE LUSITANIA'S LAST VOYAGE
I know that some passengers did appear
and did make official statements which they
signed. Others laid evidence informally be-
fore the Solicitor, and while they did not
sign statements, they were in London dur-
ing the Official Inquiry and could have been
summoned and would have testified.
The following testimony, for example, was
informally offered: that the portholes were
open, that the discipline of the officers and
crew was not what it should have been, that
the collapsible boats were not fitted with
oars and were not in proper working condi-
tion, etc. None of this evidence seems to
have been desired by his Lordship and his
Assessors, or at least there is nothing to
show that it was ever laid before them.
I do not question the sincerity of the
findings of Lord Mersey's Court, based on
the evidence placed before it; but what be-
came of this informal evidence, as quoted
( 153 )
THE LUSITANIA'S LAST VOYAGE
above, and much more that was laid before
the Solicitor of the Board of Trade?
The Court finds that "the portholes were
closed." On what and on whose evidence?
The above statement can hardly be made on
the evidence of the Captain; for when he
testified before the Coroner of Kinsale, in
reply to the question, "What precautions
did you take in connection with these
threats?" (referring to the Notice from
the German Imperial Embassy which ap-
peared in the New York papers of May 1),
he stated that "I had all the boats swung
out and the bulkhead doors closed when we
came within the danger zone." (" The Daily
Telegraph," May 11.)
The Captain had the lifeboats swung out
Thursday morning, twenty-four hours before
the disaster, but I know of no evidence that
shows that he ever ordered the portholes
closed. If he had, it is fair to presume he
( 154)
THE LUSITANIA'S LAST VOYAGE
would have mentioned it when he testified
that he had ordered the bulkhead doors
closed.
There is evidence that at least two life-
boats, each containing about fifty people,
were dropped when almost 20 feet from the
water. A survivor of one of these boats told
me that the man for'ard, who had charge
of the rope, simply let it run out through
his hands. He was not one of the "frightened
passengers" but one of the crew. It seems
to me quite possible in this instance "to
impute negligence" and "incompetence in
connection with them" (the ropes).
In another part of the report Lord Mersey
states that "no doubt there were mishaps in
handling the ropes of the boats and in other
such matters, but there was, in my opinion,
no incompetence or neglect, and I am satis-
fied that the crew behaved well throughout,
and worked with skill and judgment."
( 155 )
THE LUSITANIA'S LAST VOYAGE
Just above this in the report one reads:
*'That, since the commencement of the war,
the Cunard Company has lost all its Royal
Reserve and Fleet Reserve men, and the
managers have had to take on the best men
they could get and to train them as well as
might be in the time at their disposal." Is
it likely that any officer could take un-
trained men and in a few weeks, or even
months, make such efficient seamen of them
that they could, in a disaster of this magni-
tude, work '* with skill and judgment " ?
I do not believe it could be done.
As one of the passengers who was moving
around the deck and saw the heroic efforts
made by his fellow passengers to achieve that
which the crew utterly failed to accomplish,
I resent, with every spark of manhood that
is in me, the finding of Lord Mersey's Court
when he says that "Probably (the) disas-
trous attempts of the frightened passengers
( 156 )
THE LUSITANIA'S LAST VOYAGE
to assist in the launching operations" added
to the "difficulties" the officers and crew
found in trying to lower the boats.
I would suggest adding to the "difficul-
ties" mentioned above the following: lack
of discipline among the crew and the lack
of expert knowledge as to the handling of
the boats, knowledge that can come only
to the well-trained crew.
He says of this wonderful crew that
"many more than half of them lost their
lives." I suppose that is because the other
hah* "worked with skill and judgment."
It would seem that Lord Mersey measures
"skill and judgment" by the number that
were lost; and if so, why doesn't he pass the
same relative judgment on the passengers
who lost their lives? He mentions figures,
but here are the totals: There were 1,257
passengers and 472 were saved. To have
been consistent, he should have written
( 157)
THE LUSITANIA'S LAST VOYAGE
after the paragraph, "In addition to these
difficulties there were the well-meant but
probably disastrous attempts of the fright-
ened passengers to assist in the launching
operations," the following: "Many more
than half their number lost their lives."
From what, pray? Because they were
"frightened," or because the crew acted
with "skill and judgment"?
It doesn't seem to me that this Court of
Inquiry has stood up to its business like the
historic Briton who isn't afraid to take his
medicine, and place blame where it should
be placed; rather, it has hidden behind
the act itself, which it finds "was done not
merely with the intention of sinking the
ship, but also with the intention of destroy-
ing the lives of the people aboard."
So for the Captain, the Court finds that
he acted with "the judgment of a skilled and
experienced man, and . . . ought not . . .
( 158 )
THE LUSITANIA'S LAST VOYAGE
to be blamed"; for the Crew and Officers,
that their "conduct . . . was satisfactory.
They did their best . . . and their best was
good"; for the Cunard Line, that the "re-
duction of the steamer's speed was of no
significance and was proper in the circum-
stances." And what does this honorable
Court find for the passengers who entrusted
their lives to the judgment of the Captain
and those under him? To wit, that "some
of the passengers attempted to assist in
launching the boats . . . and did more
harm than good," and that "the frightened
passengers (made) probably disastrous at-
tempts to assist in the launching operations."
'And though thou thinkest that thou knowest sure
Thy victory, yet thou canst not surely know.
For we are all, like swimmers in the sea,
Poised on the top of a huge wave of fate,
Which hangs uncertain to which side to fall.
And whether it will heave us up to land,
Or whether it will roll us out to sea,
Back out to sea, to the deep waves of death,
We know not, and no search will make us know;
Only the event will teach us in its hour."
(Cfte flit
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